tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67142174830421270982015-03-01T13:02:09.751-08:00Cempaka AfricaGeneral news or articles related to Africa &amp; Middle East (Regions in transition)Cempakanoreply@blogger.comBlogger2049125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714217483042127098.post-33306254787918166472015-03-01T13:01:00.000-08:002015-03-01T13:02:09.768-08:00Ebola survivors commend Chinese medical team<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20150301000135&amp;cid=1103" target="_blank">Want China Times</a>, Xinhua 2015-03-01</span><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BfqDU-muYqs/VPN9UsBcHpI/AAAAAAABp78/oF_NR33Jzz8/s1600/C221X0008H_2015%E8%B3%87%E6%96%99%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87_N71.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BfqDU-muYqs/VPN9UsBcHpI/AAAAAAABp78/oF_NR33Jzz8/s1600/C221X0008H_2015%E8%B3%87%E6%96%99%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87_N71.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">China's medical team at a treatment center in Freetown, Sierra Leone, <br />Feb. 21. (Photo/Xinhua)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"But for the treatment I received from the Chinese, I should not be alive today," said Memunatu Fofanah when recalling the experience at a Chinese treatment center in Sierra Leone after testing positive for Ebola.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fofanah, a community health nurse in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown, was one of the Ebola survivors thanks to China's aid in consonance with the government and other development partners.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fofanah said she contracted the Ebola virus through her father, who was very ill when he was brought from the northern part of the country. As a nurse she decided to receive some medical care and was later taken to her health clinic at Upper Allen about 30 km from the city where her father passed away.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A few days later she started feeling sick and developed a high fever, then decided to consult medical attention but was advised to call 117, the Ebola Emergency Response Center.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I listened to the advice and promptly the command center dispatched an ambulance that conveyed me to the Chinese treatment center at Jui on the outskirts of the city, where I was diagnosed with the Ebola virus," said Fofanah.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"My first week in the hospital was not easy. I lost hope because I had lost considerable weight, was vomiting and could hardly walk. The Chinese started to give me intravenous fluids as well as treatment for the high fever, coupled with words of consolation that I would not die, that 'I would survive," she said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fofanah recalled that within two weeks "I must say that I owe my survival to the care and treatment I got at the center, for which I am very grateful."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like Memunatu Fofanah, all the survivors that spoke to Xinhua had similar stories of harrowing experiences with the dreaded disease and the support from the Chinese treatment center.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Maseray Kamara, Another Ebola survivor who lost her five-month-old child, said it was through this confused state of mind that she probably might have contracted the disease.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like her compatriots, Kamara got her healing through support and treatment from the Chinese medical team. She explained that she manifested the symptoms a week afterher child's death and was rushed to the Jui treatment center where she was handled with care, noting that they were visited at least two times a day by the Chinese doctors and nurses to administer medicines and psychosocial support.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to the figures available from the Chinese embassy, the center has treated about 671 patients, among which there are 151 Ebola-positive.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since the Ebola outbreak, about 8,000 Sierra Leoneans have been infected, of which some 2,000 have survived whilst some 2,859 have succumbed to the dreaded disease, including hundreds of medical personnel.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When the president of the west African state of Sierra Leone reported the first case of the Ebola virus about nine months ago, China was one of the first countries to respond to the call of the west African state by dispatching a plane load of medical supplies including personal protective equipment, medical personnel as well as drugs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The equipment was also supplemented with two mobile laboratories. The Sierra Leone-Chinese Friendship hospital was immediately transformed into a holding center and later to a treatment center, especially when the disease became endemic.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Duan Xuezhang, a Chinese expert at the treatment center, explained that though Ebola has no known cure, early diagnosis at the treatment center will increase the chances of a patient's survival.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to him the main problem is "dehydration and infection." Duan noted that when a person is very weak "he or she is susceptible to infection." In this case "the main therapy is fluid resuscitation with supportive treatment."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Chinese medical team comprises 41 staff members, including 8 doctors, 16 nurses and other supporting staff. They visit the patients two times a day to administer drugs as well as give them psychological and social support for their hope and confidence.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As the country is now recording single digit figures, he advised that "we should not be complacent and ensure all suspected cases are isolated to prevent further spread and ensure that those with the virus are taken to the treatment centers as soon as possible".</span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He maintained that "the Chinese will be here until Ebola is kicked out of Sierra Leone."</span></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>Cempakanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714217483042127098.post-72428028442464204772015-03-01T12:40:00.000-08:002015-03-01T12:40:11.291-08:00Slum girl to silver screen: Uganda's chess prodigy<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/slum-girl-silver-screen-ugandas-chess-prodigy-062130549.html" target="_blank">Yahoo – AFP</a>, Amy Fallon, 1 March 2015</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Pfbnj06XhNY/VPN35b-K3sI/AAAAAAABp7M/OMgmV9MjIns/s1600/61ffeec276c07565c8da808bf7f7dd039b055a61.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Pfbnj06XhNY/VPN35b-K3sI/AAAAAAABp7M/OMgmV9MjIns/s1600/61ffeec276c07565c8da808bf7f7dd039b055a61.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Phiona Mutesi (L) plays a game of chess with her colleagues at the chess&nbsp;</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">academy in Kibuye, Kampala, on January 26, 2015 (AFP Photo/Isaac Kasamani)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kampala (AFP) - Phiona Mutesi happened upon chess as a famished nine-year-old foraging for food in the sprawling and impoverished slums of the Ugandan capital.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I was very hungry," said Mutesi, aged about 18.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now a chess champion who competes internationally, her tale of triumph over adversity is being turned into a Hollywood epic with Oscar-winning Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong'o tipped to play her mother.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"My dad had died, and after the age of three we started struggling to get food to eat, my mum was not working," Mutesi told AFP. They lived on one meal a day.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yqTKsfRu2TA/VPN4NgVgg2I/AAAAAAABp7U/90nMSSPSqr4/s1600/786f5034990706e6f8dbed7b618c4bfbc38ded7d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yqTKsfRu2TA/VPN4NgVgg2I/AAAAAAABp7U/90nMSSPSqr4/s1600/786f5034990706e6f8dbed7b618c4bfbc38ded7d.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The film, entitled "Queen of Katwe", is</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">based o</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">n a book of the same name&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">about Phiona&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Mutesi by American writer&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Tim Crothers&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(AFP Photo/Isaac</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Kasamani)</span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She was forced to drop out of school aged six when her mother could not pay the fees.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"You can’t just wake up and say 'today': you have to plan first."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One day, Mutesi discovered a chess program held in a church in the Katwe slum districts in Kampala. Potential players were enticed with a free cup of porridge, and Mutesi began organising her days around this.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"It was so interesting," she recalled of her introduction to pawns, rooks, bishops, knights and kings in 2005. "But I didn’t go there for chess, I went just to get a meal."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As she returned week after week, something unexpected happened that would transform Mutesi's life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>'Incredible impact'</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The young girl developed a talent for chess, which was only introduced in Uganda in the 1970s by foreign doctors and was still seen as a game played by the rich. And her talent turned into a passion.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I like chess because it involves planning," said Mutesi. "If you don't plan, you will end up with your life so bad."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The film, entitled "Queen of Katwe", is based on a book of the same name about Mutesi by American writer Tim Crothers. It is to be shot in Uganda and South Africa, directed by Mira Nair. Filming will reportedly begin in late March.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Coach and mentor Robert Katende, of the Sports Outreach Ministry, remembers Mutesi wearing "dirty torn clothes" when he met her a decade ago.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"She was really desperate for survival," said Katende, who is building a chess academy to accommodate 150 students outside Kampala.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two years into the game, Mutesi became Uganda's national women's junior champion, defending her title the next year.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Phiona Mutesi has flourished," Vianney Luggya, president of the Uganda Chess Federation, told AFP. "She made history in the schools' competition by becoming the first girl to compete in the boys' category. It was certainly surprising."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By the time she participated in her first international competition, Africa's International Children's Chess Tournament in South Sudan in 2009, Mutesi still had not read a book.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>'Believe in yourself'</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"It was really wonderful because it was my first time abroad," she said. "It was my first time to sleep in a hotel. We came back with a trophy."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since then Mutesi has competed in chess Olympiads in Russia's Siberia, in Turkey -- after which she was given the Woman Candidate Master ranking by FIDE, the World Chess Federation -- and in Norway last year.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The teenager, who has two more years of high school left, hopes to go to the next Olympiad in 2016 in Azerbaijan.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Overseas, Mutesi has also played against her hero, Russian former world champion and Grandmaster Garry Kasparov, and inspired school students in the US to start a tournament in her name.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Back home, her fame has had "an incredible impact", said Luggya.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"The number of lady players participating in national chess championships has doubled," he said, adding that each of the 26 schools set to compete in Uganda's annual championships in April will have girls and boys teams.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Uganda's female players have also been spurred on by the success of Ivy Amoko, who became east Africa’s first FIDE Master last year.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b6Il0C73t7Q/VPN46GWWCYI/AAAAAAABp7c/Isv0M8IxWaM/s1600/dd6116aceb3aabed7d38cbba21cb46e009713cb2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b6Il0C73t7Q/VPN46GWWCYI/AAAAAAABp7c/Isv0M8IxWaM/s1600/dd6116aceb3aabed7d38cbba21cb46e009713cb2.jpg" height="257" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Overseas, Phiona Mutesi, pictured at home with her medals, has played against</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;her hero, Russian former world champion and Grandmaster Garry Kasparov, and</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;inspired school students in the US to start a tournament in her name (AFP Photo/</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Michele Sibiloni)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A recent week-long chess clinic, involving Mutesi, attracted more than 200 participants, most of them female, from Kampala slums and surrounding communities.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">British-Nigerian actor David Oyelowo -- nominated for a Gold Globe Award for his portrayal of Martin Luther King in the 2014 drama "Selma" -- is also set to star in "Queen of Katwe".<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Luggya hopes the film will "open doors" for all players in Uganda, saying: "I think Ugandans realise that it is a brain game that can enhance their potential in all other aspects of life."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Though the country now has east Africa's only International Master, Elijah Emojong, and the region's biggest number of titled players, Uganda still struggles with kit and trainers -- normally volunteers -- plus sponsorship for overseas titles.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mutesi is aware this may hold her back ultimately.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But while her goal is to rise to Grandmaster, she also hopes to become a paediatrician and open a home for children, especially girls facing the same predicament she overcame.</span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">"Girls are always under-looked, even in chess," said Mutesi. "But I don't think there's any reason why a girl cannot beat a boy. </span>It comes from believing in yourself."</span><o:p></o:p><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>Cempakanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714217483042127098.post-63077620699268116132015-03-01T04:11:00.000-08:002015-03-01T04:28:10.223-08:00Mali peace deal to be signed Sunday in Algiers: ministry<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/mali-peace-deal-signed-sunday-algiers-ministry-201400042.html" target="_blank">Yahoo – AFP</a>, Amal Belalloufi, 1 March 2015</span><br /> <br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z6gdKhv1KAA/VPMBZA-mcoI/AAAAAAABp5Y/HJZx3laTZyA/s1600/Part-NIC-Nic6419022-1-1-0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z6gdKhv1KAA/VPMBZA-mcoI/AAAAAAABp5Y/HJZx3laTZyA/s1600/Part-NIC-Nic6419022-1-1-0.jpg" height="283" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Algerian FM Ramtane Lamamra (R) signs documents overseeing a peace&nbsp;</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">agreement between the Malian government and armed groups, February 19,&nbsp;</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">2015 in Algiers (AFP Photo/Farouk Batiche)</span><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Algiers (AFP) - Mali's government and six militant groups from the country's violence-strewn north are to sign a peace accord in Algiers on Sunday, the Algerian foreign ministry announced.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"The Malian parties will sign a peace accord on Sunday morning under the auspices of Algeria" at a ceremony in the capital, a ministry source said on Saturday.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The ministry invited the media to the signing ceremony at 8:30 am (0730 GMT).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ethnic divisions run deep in the west African nation's northern desert, the cradle of a Tuareg separatist movement which has spawned several rebellions since the 1960s.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0HS18Ck6avE/VPMBu5M1ArI/AAAAAAABp5g/mks17dkZhvI/s1600/130198e48d868b8512b526b92c050bedadcee34b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0HS18Ck6avE/VPMBu5M1ArI/AAAAAAABp5g/mks17dkZhvI/s1600/130198e48d868b8512b526b92c050bedadcee34b.jpg" height="121" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">French troops patrol on October 30, 2013,</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;in a desert near the village of Bamba,&nbsp;</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">between Timbuktu and Gao, northern&nbsp;</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Mali&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(AFP Photo/Philippe Desmazes)</span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Algeria and the United Nations have led mediation talks in Algiers since last July between ministers and six armed rebel groups amid an uptick in violence that threatened to jeopardise the peace process.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The militant organisations which took part are dominated by Tuareg and Arabs, however, and no jihadist group was invited to the dialogue.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Militants linked to Al-Qaeda seized control of northern Mali for more than nine months until a French-led military intervention of 2013 that partly drove them from the region.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The accord transfers a raft of powers from Bamako to the country's restive north.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The 30-page "Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in Mali from the Algiers Process", seen by AFP on Friday, calls for "reconstruction of the country's national unity" in a manner that "respects its territorial integrity and takes account of its ethnic and cultural diversity".<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The draft deal proposes the creation of powerful elected regional assemblies led by a directly elected president, as well as "greater representation of the northern populations in national institutions".<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>'Azawad reality'</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From 2018 the government will set up a "mechanism to transfer 30 percent of budget revenues from the state to local authorities... with particular attention to the North", according to the document.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It envisages an internationally funded Northern Development Zone to raise living standards to the levels enjoyed by the inhabitants of the rest of the country within 10-15 years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The document refers to "Azawad" -- the local name for a swathe of disputed territory the size of Texas -- as "a socio-cultural reality... shared by different populations of northern Mali".<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The draft sets out plans for a national conference bringing all sides together within two years of the signing of a "final and comprehensive peace agreement".<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A fifth round of talks started on February 16 aimed at bringing a lasting peace to northern Mali, which remains unstable despite the French-led intervention against Islamist rebels.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Under the draft, militants are to be integrated into the Malian army to be redeployed in the north of the country, with joint patrols to start within two months of the deal being signed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the economic front, a development zone will be set up for northern Mali to bring it up to the level of the rest of the country, with a share of the state budget being transferred to the north and revenues from natural resources being shared, within a period of 10 to 15 years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finances are to be raised at an international donor conference.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An international commission of inquiry will be tasked under the accord to probe war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and other serious violations of human rights committed in the Mali conflict.</span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Political scientist Rachid Tlemcani, contacted by AFP, said the accord would be "a great victory of Algerian diplomacy" if it succeeds, but remained "sceptical" that it would resolve the root causes of the conflict.</span><o:p></o:p></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Related Articles:</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></b><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://cempaka-africa.blogspot.nl/2015/03/mali-peace-deal-to-be-signed-sunday-in.html" target="_blank">Mali peace deal to be signed Sunday in Algiers: ministry</a>&nbsp;-&nbsp;<span style="color: 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sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://cempaka-hotspots.blogspot.nl/2015/02/iran-sees-progress-but-long-road-ahead.html" target="_blank">Iran sees progress but 'long road' ahead in nuclear talks</a></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://cempaka-africa.blogspot.nl/2015/01/libya-government-declares-ceasefire.html" target="_blank">Libya government declares ceasefire</a></b></span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://cempaka-south-america.blogspot.nl/2015/02/colombias-farc-rebels-invite-miss.html" target="_blank">Colombia's FARC rebels invite Miss Universe, Paulina Vega, for peace talks</a></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://cempaka-south-america.blogspot.nl/2015/01/colombia-ready-for-truce-talks-with.html" target="_blank">Colombia ready for truce talks with Farc - President Santos</a></b><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://cempaka-asean.blogspot.nl/2015/01/kim-says-open-to-highest-level-talks.html" target="_blank">Kim says open to 'highest-level' talks with South</a></b></span><o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://cempaka-south-america.blogspot.nl/2015/01/pope-francis-calls-for-peace-end-to.html" target="_blank">Pope Francis calls for peace, end to slavery in 2015</a></b><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Archangel Michael: Peace on Earth is Not a Dream</b></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://goldenageofgaia.com/2015/02/13/archangel-michael-peace-earth-not-dream/" target="_blank">Golden Age of Gaia</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://goldenageofgaia.com/author/steve-beckow/" target="_blank">Steve Beckow</a>, February 13, 2015<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mlntZ8TXOYE/VO5AQZSwBVI/AAAAAAABpt0/dQHCVvtNUpM/s1600/cutmypic2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mlntZ8TXOYE/VO5AQZSwBVI/AAAAAAABpt0/dQHCVvtNUpM/s1600/cutmypic2.png" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Archangel Michael will find a way to get his message out. Linda was not planning on giving a reading today, but a caller begged her. And in the course of the reading, AAM sent a message to all of us. Here it is:</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Greetings I am Michael, Archangel of Peace, Warrior of Love, bringer of news.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our time is at hand and you know this. As we nudge, encourage and conjoin with so many upon the planet to bring forth in form not merely in heart but in form, not only the promise of peace but the actuality of peace.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is not a dream. This is not an unreality. This is not, as some think, ‘pie in the sky.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is what our partnership, our sacred union, our co-creation together, is capable of. And always has been. Only now the human vibration, frequency and knowingness has risen to a level where humans are consciously aware that they are able and capable of anchoring peace on Earth with us right now.</span></span><br /><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is not merely an exercise of intent, but of will and action. It is a glorious day. It is not a day of defeat. It is not a day of fear. It is not a day of worry.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is a glorious day!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I reassure you, my beloved one, and I reassure many, peace is at hand. And I thank you for all the assistance, the diligence, all the consistency that you have offered to and with me – you are cherished.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: normal;"><b><a href="https://www.kryon.com/cartprodimages/download_Boulder_12.html" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)</a></b>&nbsp;- (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.kryon.com/k_channel11_edmonton.html" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">Benevolent Design</a>, New Energy,&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: normal;">Shift of Human Consciousness,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.kryon.com/k_channel11_sacramento.html" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">(Old) Souls</a>,&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: normal;">Reincarnation, Gaia,&nbsp;<b>Old Energies (Africa, Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea,&nbsp;Venezuela ... )</b>, Weather,&nbsp;Rejuvenation,&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: normal;">Akash,&nbsp;Nicolas Tesla / Einstein,&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: normal;">Cold Fusion</span><span style="line-height: normal;">, M</span>agnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing,&nbsp;Magnetism),&nbsp;Entanglement,&nbsp;<i>"Life is&nbsp;</i><i>necessary</i><i>&nbsp;for a Universe to exist and not the other way around"</i>, DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.)&nbsp;</span></span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">-&nbsp;</span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.kryon.com/k_channel11_Boulder-12.html" target="_blank">(Text Version)</a></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“…&nbsp;</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;I want you to watch some countries. I don't have a clock [this statement is Kryon telling us that there is no time frame on his side of the veil, only potentials]. I'll just tell you, it's imminent [in Spirit's timing, this could mean as soon as a decade]. I want you to watch some countries carefully for changes. You're going to be seeing changes that are obvious, and some that are not obvious [covert or assumptive]. But the obvious ones you will see sooner than not -&nbsp;Cuba, Korea [North],&nbsp;Iran, of course, and&nbsp;Venezuela. I want you to watch what happens when they start to realize that they don't have any more allies on Earth! Even their&nbsp;<i>brothers</i>&nbsp;who used to support them in their hatred of some are saying,&nbsp;<i>"Well, perhaps not anymore. It doesn't seem to be supporting us anymore."</i>&nbsp;Watch the synchronicities that are occurring. The leaders who have either died or are going to in the next year or so will take with them the old ways. Watch what happens to those who take their place, and remember these meetings where I described these potentials to you.&nbsp;<i>…”</i></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><b><a href="https://www.kryon.com/cartprodimages/download_Dallas_12.html" target="_blank">"Recalibration of Free Choice"– &nbsp;Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll)</a>&nbsp;-&nbsp;</b></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Subjects:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.kryon.com/k_channel11_sacramento.html" target="_blank">(Old) Souls</a>,&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Midpoint on 21-12-2012</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black &amp; White vs. Color,&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;-&nbsp;Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”,&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;- Humans will change react to drama,</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;3</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;- Civilizations/Population on Earth, &nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind)</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">,</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;– Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) ,&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;- News/Media/TV to change,&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;– Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical) &nbsp;</span><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;–&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wars will be over on Earth</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, Global Unity, … etc.)&nbsp;</span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">-&nbsp;<a href="http://www.kryon.com/k_channel12_Dallas.html" target="_blank">(Text version)</a></i></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>“… &nbsp;<b>8 - The End of War</b></i></i></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The last one is the best. For thousands of years on this planet, Human Beings have warred with each other. If you take a look at the reasons they warred with each other, you will quickly see there aren't any good ones - land, resources, greed. Those are not reasons. That is a description of old energy. Those are not reasons. Reasons would be perhaps defense against an aggressor. But what if there is no longer the consciousness of the aggressor?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I appeared in my partner's life more than 20 years ago, I said to him privately that the first messages we're going to give will be unbelievable. There would be laughter. We told him that Human nature and consciousness itself would change, and that the seeds of peace would be planted and there would come a time where there is no more war. Indeed, the laughter was great because humans look at history and they see patterns based on an absolute energy called Human Nature.</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;"Impossible! There always has to be war. There always has been. Therefore, there always will be."</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;This is you, in a box, in a black and white potential, where you can only see the black and white of what is and the black and white of what has been. You have no idea the shades of color that are there in your consciousness and the beauty of the love of God.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">North Korea</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">is on the edge of change, as we told you it might be. What did this require? The death of the old energy, and I want you to watch this take place. The advisors of the young leader are going to do their best to pull him back into an old energy. This free choice of his will be far different than his father, for he sees some color. Watch for these things. They'll take longer than you want, but it is the beginning of the beginning.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You'll see a fresh unification of South America sooner than not, for what is going to take place potentially this year in</span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Venezuela</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;You'll see</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Iran</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">changing. We have no clock. These are the potentials. These can change with free choice. These are not prophecies. This is a reality shift, dear ones, so number eight becomes the propensity not to war again. This is what Humans are going to want. This is what governments are going to want. There is a wisdom factor that will begin to happen on the planet that is grander than what you think is possible. For when you look at government, what do you think about? You see dysfunction, and there is an axiom that says the more people that try to do something together, the worse it gets. It all settles to the lowest common denominator. I'm telling you even those things are going to become old energy concepts. Instead, you're going to watch wisdom become the top potential.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have no clock. I cannot tell you when. I can just tell you it is in the works, and there will be the seeds of it for you to observe soon - right now, in every single of the eight categories I showed you.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are those who will say,&nbsp;</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Well, Kryon, you're doing a lot more predictions than you used to."</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;I want to tell you what's going on, dear one. I am not predicting anything. I am just telling you what's already there in the potential soup of your reality. That's what Humans are doing on this planet, and for those who believe this communication, you should breathe a sigh of relief and say,&nbsp;</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"It's about time."</i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">&nbsp;</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">….”</i></div></div><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>Cempakanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714217483042127098.post-60609142588174287572015-02-28T14:28:00.003-08:002015-02-28T14:29:18.078-08:00Mugabe celebrates 91st birthday with million-dollar bash<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/mugabe-turns-91-million-dollar-birthday-bash-104527667.html" target="_blank">Yahoo – AFP</a>, Farai Munganp28 feb 2015</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wCdKMVczIhY/VPJA4G6anmI/AAAAAAABp4E/oI5DuzkL6Ko/s1600/Part-PAR-Par8110264-1-1-0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wCdKMVczIhY/VPJA4G6anmI/AAAAAAABp4E/oI5DuzkL6Ko/s1600/Part-PAR-Par8110264-1-1-0.jpg" height="276" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe (C) receives a signed gift next to<br />&nbsp;his wife Grace Mugabe (2nd R) on February 28, 2015 during the celebration <br />of Mugabe's 91st birthday at Victoria Falls (AFP Photo/Jekesai Njikizana)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) (AFP) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Saturday celebrated his 91st birthday with a lavish million dollar bash that was slammed by the opposition as "obscene" in a country wracked by poverty.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thousands of supporters of the ruling ZANU-PF, many wearing party regalia emblazoned with the president's image, sang and danced as he arrived for the jamboree at a luxury hotel in the famed Victoria Falls resort.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Assisted by his wife Grace, the elderly liberation leader, who wore a black suit, white shirt and red tie, threw 91 balloons into the air.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The party, which comes a week after Mugabe's birthday, was held on the hotel golf course, with white marquees housing the guests.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Elephants were slaughtered for the feast and seven huge cakes were on display in one of the tents.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One giant 91-kilo creation depicted the spectacular Victoria Falls, which empty into the Zambezi river that forms the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Addressing the gathering in a 90-minute speech, Mugabe castigated the US which has imposed sanctions on both Zimbabwe and him personally.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"They (the US) can't have it both ways if they want to be friends then they must be friends with us in total and we allow them to have some safaris," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"But they can't say 'allow our people to visit, allow our people to have safaris, to kill our lions and take safari trophies to America," he added.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The extravagance of Mugabe's birthday parties are a subject of annual controversy in Zimbabwe.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The opposition Movement for Democratic Change called Saturday's festivities "obscene".<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"All the money that has been collected to bankroll this obscene jamboree should be immediately channelled towards rehabilitating the collapsed public hospitals, clinics and rural schools in Matebeleland North province," MDC spokesman Obert Gutu said last week, referring to the province where Victoria Falls is located.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, is the world's oldest leader.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the banners welcoming him to the party praised him as "the icon of Zimbabwe's revolution."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Forward with President Mugabe," supporters chanted.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Several speakers wished him good health, with one youth leader urging the authorities to declare February 21 -- his birthday -- a national holiday.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While hailed by many African peers as a liberation hero, critics accuse the Zimbabwean strongman of turning southern Africa's former bread basket into a basket case by trampling human rights, democracy and the rule of law.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mugabe's violent seizure of white-owned farms triggered food shortages and hyper-inflation, while Europe and the United States imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe over elections seen as rigged.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In an interview marking his birthday, Mugabe admitted he blundered by giving ill-equipped black farmers vast tracts of farmland under his controversial land reforms.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I think the farms we gave to people are too large. They can't manage them," Mugabe said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He also shrugged off questions over an incident earlier this month in which he missed a step and stumbled from a podium.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I have yet to come across to a person who has not fallen. It was a slight fall, missing a step," Mugabe told state-controlled television.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite his age, Mugabe appears to be in reasonable health, and according to one analyst, can regard himself as having plenty to celebrate following years of international criticism.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"If his aim was to rule Zimbabwe and become the king of Zimbabwe for a long time, and whatever happened to the country he would stay there and become a continent-wide hero, I think he's achieved those aims," Dowden said.</span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"The fact that Zimbabwe has been ruined in the process and it's now just run by thieves who call themselves ministers, looting the place continually, I don't think that worries him a bit," he added.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>Cempakanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714217483042127098.post-86397668808995287002015-02-28T10:40:00.001-08:002015-02-28T10:40:34.226-08:00One-year ban on ivory carving imports to China<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20150228000004&amp;cid=1105" target="_blank">Want China Times</a>, Xinhua 2015-02-28</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eol8Vym_ppI/VPIJCv8gJJI/AAAAAAABp18/31-Kki6aEGQ/s1600/C812X0014H_2014%E8%B3%87%E6%96%99%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87_N71.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eol8Vym_ppI/VPIJCv8gJJI/AAAAAAABp18/31-Kki6aEGQ/s1600/C812X0014H_2014%E8%B3%87%E6%96%99%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87_N71.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Elephants in Amboseli National Park in Kenya, July 16, 2014. (Photo/Xinhua)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chinese authorities on Thursday announced a one-year ban on imports of African ivory carvings acquired in accordance with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a brief statement on its website, the State Forestry Administration said it would halt administrative approval for the imports until Feb. 26, 2016.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The agency said the move is to protect African elephants, and the one-year timeframe is designed to assess the effects.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The sale of ivory is legal in China if the activities conform with certain regulations. Imports of ivory and its products must gain approval from the State Forestry Administration.</span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to the rules, raw elephant ivory and its products should be processed at designated places, sold at fixed shops and tracked on an individual item basis. Each legal ivory product can be tracked through a unique photo ID and is recorded in a database.</span></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-heEf7baxe6Y/VPIJtUWqnkI/AAAAAAABp2E/YgHnJhU-0Zo/s1600/BvYea8tCYAENz5Z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-heEf7baxe6Y/VPIJtUWqnkI/AAAAAAABp2E/YgHnJhU-0Zo/s1600/BvYea8tCYAENz5Z.jpg" height="327" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Related Articles:</b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://cempaka-asean.blogspot.nl/2014/11/chinese-officials-on-illegal-african.html" target="_blank">Chinese officials 'on illegal African ivory buying sprees'</a></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://cempaka-asean.blogspot.nl/2014/02/un-security-council-declares-war-on.html" target="_blank">UN Security Council declares war on ivory poachers, traffickers</a></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_1CcTQNYyL4/VPIKZ52S4DI/AAAAAAABp2Q/S43niowSDMc/s1600/BalEZ4DCQAAGFr_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_1CcTQNYyL4/VPIKZ52S4DI/AAAAAAABp2Q/S43niowSDMc/s1600/BalEZ4DCQAAGFr_.jpg" height="356" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div>Cempakanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714217483042127098.post-74657779438771695462015-02-26T12:27:00.000-08:002015-02-26T12:27:54.431-08:00Ex-Yemen President Saleh amassed 'up to 60 billion,' UN reports<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Ali Abdullah Saleh, the former president of Yemen, allegedly siphoned billions of dollars into his own coffers while in power. The evidence stems from a UN report about the deposed leader.</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.dw.de/ex-yemen-president-saleh-amassed-up-to-60-billion-un-reports/a-18282279" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>, 26 Feb 2015<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-liI1Eu4lYJc/VO-BBDiXaYI/AAAAAAABpvU/AY7Y7XEqwi4/s1600/0%2C%2C18282303_303%2C00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-liI1Eu4lYJc/VO-BBDiXaYI/AAAAAAABpvU/AY7Y7XEqwi4/s1600/0%2C%2C18282303_303%2C00.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An expert panel presented the UN Security Council with a report this week outlining the alleged corruption practices of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The main finding of the report highlighted the fortune - estimated to be between $32-$60 billion (28 billion-53 billion euros) - which the former strongman amassed during his 33 years in power.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"These assets are said to take the form of property, cash, shares, gold and other valuable commodities," the expert report said, adding that he had transferred the majority of those assets to roughly 20 countries under false names.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to the findings of the UN probe, Saleh was able to hide the funds with the help of five prominent Yemeni businessmen. Using companies and other individuals as fronts also helped shield him from assets freezes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"The origin of the funds used to generate [Saleh's] wealth is believed to be…particularly [related] to gas and oil contracts where he reportedly asked for money in exchange for granting companies exclusive rights to prospect for gas and oil in Yemen."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The investigators estimated that he earned nearly $2 billion annually during his presidency.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Many have argued that the country's spiraling debt and economic problems would be alleviated with a repatriation of these alleged stolen assets," it added.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Saleh and Yemen's political turmoil</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yemen has devolved into economic instability and political turmoil in the time since Saleh's forced resignation in 2012 after Yemen's Arab Spring uprising. Most recently, Shiite Houthi rebels have solidified their power in Yemen's north and taken over the capital city, Sanaa. The <a href="http://www.dw.de/yemens-alarming-disintegration/a-18258770" target="_blank">political crisis</a> resulted in house arrest for President Abd Rabu Mansour, who recently fled to the south and <a href="http://www.dw.de/ex-yemen-president-saleh-amassed-up-to-60-billion-un-reports/a-18282279?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf" target="_blank">rescinded his resignation</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wednesday's report included information from sources who alleged that Saleh has been stockpiling weapons since being deposed, supporting allegations that he has played a role in the current unrest.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many countries, including Germany, the <a href="http://www.dw.de/yemen-rebels-seize-us-weapons-after-embassy-closures/a-18250527" target="_blank">United States</a> and <a href="http://www.dw.de/yemen-rebels-seize-us-weapons-after-embassy-closures/a-18250527" target="_blank">Middle Eastern </a>nations have closed their embassies in Yemen amid security concerns. Late last week, rival factions in Yemen agreed to create a transitional council under UN oversight in order to help govern the country along with the parliament. The council is to include representatives from social groups that have traditionally lacked a voice in Yemeni politics.</span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>kms/sms (AP, dpa)</i></span><o:p></o:p></div>Cempakanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714217483042127098.post-69727050300057808722015-02-23T15:05:00.000-08:002015-02-23T15:05:15.831-08:00German foreign minister seeking 'anchors of stability' in Africa<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Germany's Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier is seeking to intensify ties between Germany and Africa. Berlin is particularly interested in countries that foster regional stability.</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.dw.de/german-foreign-minister-seeking-anchors-of-stability-in-africa/a-18274524" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>, 23 Feb 2015<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T28eXpnTG6s/VOuwZquDkDI/AAAAAAABpoY/tgF_TO3VTTs/s1600/0%2C%2C18273595_303%2C00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T28eXpnTG6s/VOuwZquDkDI/AAAAAAABpoY/tgF_TO3VTTs/s1600/0%2C%2C18273595_303%2C00.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">German Foreign Minister Steinmeir with kenyan President</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Steinmeier's four-day trip took him to three countries - the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Kenya - and its purpose is to forge new partnerships for Germany.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There were occasional glitches. At the Nairobi museum, the minister was shown the start of a film with sound, but no pictures.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But such mishaps did not stop the high-level cultural and scientific delegation from Germany engaging in a lively debate with Kenya's cultural elite about new forms of cooperation with Africa. Such cooperation is expected to acquire tangible shape at a newly created Humboldt Forum in Berlin starting in 2019.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cultivating a new relationship with Africa was the main goal of the foreign minister's four-day tour. In spite of the ongoing crises in Ukraine, the Middle East and Greece, Steinmeier went ahead with his Africa tour, the fourth in twelve months, to promote Germany's new Africa policy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"We have to look at Africa in a new way," Steinmeier said. Germany still tends to view Africa as the continent of crises and conflicts. "But this is no longer true for all of Africa, because there are also anchors of stability in which we are particularly interested," the German minister said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MBtiejv34QY/VOuxAeP2rYI/AAAAAAABpog/qGJT3zz4SWc/s1600/0%2C%2C17317984_401%2C00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MBtiejv34QY/VOuxAeP2rYI/AAAAAAABpog/qGJT3zz4SWc/s1600/0%2C%2C17317984_401%2C00.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Rwanda accuses MONUSCO commanders of doing too little in the<br />fight against the FDLR rebels</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>'Where is Germany?'</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Steinmeier said one anchor of stability in the region was Rwanda, despite deficits in democratic governance and its tense relationship with its neighbor, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But Rwanda is not satisfied with the work of the UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO to which Germany contributes more than 100 million euros (US$ 113 million) every year.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said FDLR Hutu rebels were still active in the border region where they were spreading "ethnic poison." They have to be "eliminated," the Rwandan minister said bluntly. She blamed the head of MONUSCO Martin Kobler - who otherwise enjoys an excellent reputation - for the FDLR's continued presence in the region.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mushikiwabo wants Germany to take on a far bigger role in the region. Currently only France, the UK and Belgium are active there."Where is Germany?" she asked, "We want more German presence here seen in the region, and across the continent."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anchors of stability are rare in Central and East Africa. A few days ago, German President Joachim Gauck added Tanzania to the list.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kenya, the last leg of Steinmeier's tour, is not one of them. The Somali terrorist militia group al-Shabab has repeatedly carried out attacks in the country and the internal political situation is considered fragile. But Steinmeier noted to Kenya's credit that it is the country that is promoting regional cooperation within the framework of the East African Community (EAC).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GtHITqnNgnc/VOuxsKj1mzI/AAAAAAABpoo/Qy7fntZE_fk/s1600/0%2C%2C17886275_401%2C00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GtHITqnNgnc/VOuxsKj1mzI/AAAAAAABpoo/Qy7fntZE_fk/s1600/0%2C%2C17886275_401%2C00.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Steinemeir described Rwanda as an anchor of stability despite<br />&nbsp;'deficits in democratic governance'</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>East Africa - a dependable partner</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Steinmeier believes East Africa could develop into a politically strong and economically stable region. A customs union encompassing Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi and Uganda, would create an internal market of at least 160 million consumers. During this trip Steinmeier referred cautiously to "a region of growing political and economic stability."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some members of the younger generation of East Africans, whether in DR Congo, Rwanda or Kenya, are apparently pinning their hopes on Germany.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In surveys or comments on Facebook, young people say wish German companies could help boost the recovery of their respective national economies. They would also like German politicians to act as act as a counterweight to their often corrupt and patriarchal elites.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Young people want change," said, Mukazi Ndekezi, a student of international relations from Rwanda. Mukazi, who is a youth ambassador, seeks to promote the interests of young people at the EAC. Not surprisingly, she believes regional cooperation will succeed. Young people between the ages of 17 and 35, she notes, account for two thirds of the population of the EAC region.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"They're really done with conflicts," she said of the under-35s. "And I have seen a positive impact of the regional integration. Like students, they collaborate, they talk, they discuss, and they share their views, their ideas. And then they understand each other."</span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Germany's foreign minister - who she can only see from afar in Kigali - would have readily welcomed such sentiments.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>Cempakanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714217483042127098.post-71181345302886132015-02-23T14:37:00.000-08:002015-02-23T14:37:18.409-08:00African nations face dilemma over digital switch<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The UN has set June as the deadline for moving from analog to digital transmission. Only a few African countries seem prepared for the change. Even the largest television markets on the continent are lagging behind.</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.dw.de/african-nations-face-dilemma-over-digital-switch/a-18274182" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>, 23 Feb 2015<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lLaHLamBzYo/VOuoLyipQDI/AAAAAAABpns/0ScqmM-zWCM/s1600/0%2C%2C18271648_303%2C00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lLaHLamBzYo/VOuoLyipQDI/AAAAAAABpns/0ScqmM-zWCM/s1600/0%2C%2C18271648_303%2C00.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A group of people stands near three large satellite dishes in a rural area.<br />Photo: John Hrusa epa dpa</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Staring at a blank TV screen has become a reality for most Kenyans, and many other African TV viewers could face the same fate come June 17. That is the deadline set by the UN's International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for television programs to be transmitted only digitally.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the deadline, satellite dishes and antennas will receive their signals via a different technology. Theoretically, it will be possible to receive many more channels and enjoy improved image quality.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is a story behind Kenya's black screens. President Uhuru Kenyatta's government ordered a consortium of four major television networks to be blocked from broadcasting in analog. This happened after they refused to change their signals to digital. The media houses argued that they were not ready yet, and now they are in court trying to push for one hundred more days to prepare for the digital transition.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apart from Nigeria and South Africa, Kenya is one of the largest television markets in Africa.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mkniX5sNu5U/VOuoo-jT_aI/AAAAAAABpn0/DazO46nFojw/s1600/0%2C%2C18271099_401%2C00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mkniX5sNu5U/VOuoo-jT_aI/AAAAAAABpn0/DazO46nFojw/s1600/0%2C%2C18271099_401%2C00.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Standard Group,one of Kenya's leading media house, says<br />it needs more time for the switchover</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All three countries are not ready for the switchover, says Mike Jensen, an IT specialist with the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) based in South Africa. "The Kenyan situation is probably the worst-case scenario on the continent; South Africa is pretty close," Jensen said. "In Nigeria, only one state has made the switch," Jensen told DW.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nationwide coverage after the switchover to digital broadcasting is by no means ensured in African countries. As in Kenya, it is often about money. The change is costly for governments and citizens alike, the APC states on its website, which seeks to create an awareness of the issue.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Television viewers will usually need a decoder, which costs about $50 (44 euros), to decode the digital signal. Moreover, television companies will have to dig deep into their pockets to be able to broadcast their programs using the new technology.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Tanzania a digital model</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Vera Moses, a Tanzanian viewer, says she is happy with the digital reception. "The quality of the pictures is good," she told DW in an interview.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tanzania is one of three countries that has already largely switched to wide-band Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB). "In Dar es Salaam we already switched off analog transmission at the end of 2012," John Nkoma, the director of Tanzania's Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), told DW. Most cities are now receiving programs via DVB-T, which is terrestrial digital broadcasting via antenna. The remote parts of Tanzania receive broadcasts via satellite.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H8oS0GgHIxA/VOuplvPMEMI/AAAAAAABpoA/ZU97i2IFqso/s1600/0%2C%2C18122690_404%2C00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H8oS0GgHIxA/VOuplvPMEMI/AAAAAAABpoA/ZU97i2IFqso/s1600/0%2C%2C18122690_404%2C00.jpg" height="111" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Dar es Salaam has already gone digital</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It took some persuasion to convince citizens and businesses of the merits of the new system, Nkoma said, as he revealed two secrets to Tanzania's success: Firstly, decoders were taxed less. "The price for the decoders is artificially low," Nkoma said, "so they have become affordable." Tanzanians can get a decoder for $30.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Secondly, user habits were taken into consideration. "The public was used to free-to-air channels, so we required that in the digital broadcasting platform there would be the five popular channels of this country and those would be available as free channels." Viewers whose subscriptions expire would have these five channels to fall back on.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Market interests</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But according to APC's Mike Jensen, that is not the whole story. Tanzania and neighboring Rwanda had forced the switchover on the public by shutting off the analog signal. Of course, there were citizens in both countries who simply could not afford the necessary equipment, Jensen said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He thinks governments should guarantee a realistic compensation for the costs. The price of a decoder, Jensen said, was also a big issue in Mauritius. The government ordered large amounts of cheap decoders from China. Many of which had defects.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z95LKmAI2gQ/VOup0P2vr4I/AAAAAAABpoI/D4jiPIXUmTE/s1600/0%2C%2C18271652_401%2C00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z95LKmAI2gQ/VOup0P2vr4I/AAAAAAABpoI/D4jiPIXUmTE/s1600/0%2C%2C18271652_401%2C00.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Satellite transmission is also to be digitalized</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jensen also does not understand the date the ITU has chosen. He estimates that by then only six countries may succeed in formally completing the switchover.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Germany has already changed to digital broadcasting, and so have most of the other industrialized nations. But Latin America has planned the switchover for as late as 2020.</span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jensen says African telecommunications companies pushed for the early date for Africa. These companies, he said, were the only ones to profit from such a date, because they wanted to monopolize television broadcasting.</span></span></div>Cempakanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714217483042127098.post-41689984038341863782015-02-21T11:58:00.002-08:002015-02-21T13:07:40.370-08:00Obama adviser John Podesta's biggest regret: Keeping America in dark about UFOs<div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/outgoing-obama-adviser-john-podesta-s-biggest-regret-of-2014--keeping-america-in-the-dark-about-ufos-234149498.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yahoo</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp; </span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/outgoing-obama-adviser-john-podesta-s-biggest-regret-of-2014--keeping-america-in-the-dark-about-ufos-234149498.html" target="_blank">News</a>, <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/author/caitlin-dickson/" target="_blank">Caitlin Dickson</a>, February 13, 2015</span><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oXwmGvzeLT0/VOB2jmFge0I/AAAAAAABpS8/nBSNOhIvWm8/s1600/5a71305c6964d033690f6a706700f4e9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oXwmGvzeLT0/VOB2jmFge0I/AAAAAAABpS8/nBSNOhIvWm8/s1600/5a71305c6964d033690f6a706700f4e9.jpg" height="260" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In this Nov. 19, 2014 file photo, Counselor to the President John Podesta speaks in</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2014. In the year that will pass before the 2016&nbsp;</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">campaign for president formally kicks off with the votes in the Iowa Caucus, any</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;number of candidates, donors, political operatives — and people who have nothing</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;to do with American politics — will shape the race for the White House. (AP Photo/</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)</span><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Outgoing senior Obama adviser John Podesta reflected on his latest White House stint Friday, listing his favorite moments and biggest regrets from the past year. Chief among them: depriving the American people of the truth about UFOs.</span></span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">1. Finally, my biggest failure of 2014: Once again not securing the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/disclosure?src=hash">#disclosure</a> of the UFO files. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/thetruthisstilloutthere?src=hash">#thetruthisstilloutthere</a> cc: <a href="https://twitter.com/NYTimesDowd">@NYTimesDowd</a><br />— John Podesta (@Podesta44) <a href="https://twitter.com/Podesta44/status/566279431505731584">February 13, 2015</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Podesta’s longtime fascination with UFOs is well-documented, as his brief political hiatus following four years as President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff freed him up to pursue his otherworldly passion.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At a 2002 press conference organized by the Coalition for Freedom of Information, Podesta spoke on the importance of disclosing government UFO investigations to the public.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“It’s time to find out what the truth really is that’s out there,”&nbsp; he said. “We ought to do it, really, because it’s right. We ought to do it, quite frankly, because the American people can handle the truth. And we ought to do it because it’s the law.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/smwQau3HtKM?list=PL574D16C379439373" width="450"></iframe></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Following Podesta’s tweet, Friday, the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/in-the-loop/wp/2015/02/13/obama-aide-john-podesta-says-biggest-failure-was-not-securing-the-disclosure-of-ufo-files/%20" target="_blank">Washington Post</a> recalled an exchange one of its reporters had with Podesta in 2007. Karen Tumulty had asked Podesta about <a href="http://www.disclosureproject.org/clintonlibrary.shtml" target="_blank">reports</a> that the Clinton Library in Little Rock, Arkansas, had been bombarded with Freedom of Information Act Requests specifically seeking email correspondence to and from the former chief of staff including terms like “X-Files” and “Area 51.” Podesta’s response, through a spokesperson, was “The truth is out there,” the tagline for the TV show “The X-Files” of which Podesta was known to be a fan. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A 2010 editorial in <a href="http://www.columbiatribune.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/podesta-s-reversal-on-ufos-is-mystifying/article_d37bd860-34f1-53d4-acba-fe2c9e90199b.html" target="_blank">Missouri’s Columbia Tribune</a> disparaged reports that Podesta had asked an outspoken UFO photographer to stop discussing his knowledge of extraterrestrial activities in public.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“One wonders why Podesta would do such a radical reversal, given his former plea for UFO disclosure,” the editorial implored.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But contrary to the Columbia Tribune’s concerns, Podesta had clearly not abandoned the cause. He wrote an introduction to the 2010 book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/UFOs-Generals-Pilots-Government-Officials/dp/0307717089" target="_blank">“UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record.”</a></span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unfortunately, Podesta will likely have little time to fill out FOIA requests in his new job at Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Perhaps, as his tweet suggests, he’s passing the torch to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/25/opinion/we-re-not-alone.html" target="_blank">New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd</a>.</span><o:p></o:p></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Related Articles:</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://cempaka-people.blogspot.nl/2013/12/new-obama-advisor-john-podesta-advocate.html" target="_blank">New Obama Advisor John Podesta An Advocate For UFO Disclosure</a></b><br /><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://cempaka-hotspots.blogspot.nl/2010/07/john-podesta-writes-probing-foreword.html" target="_blank">John Podesta writes probing foreword for new book on UFOs</a></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://cempaka-green.blogspot.nl/2014/07/government-takes-first-major-steps.html" target="_blank">US Government Takes First Major Steps Towards UFO Disclosure</a></b><br /><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://cempaka-people.blogspot.nl/2014/09/will-et-be-here-soon-nasa-brings.html" target="_blank">Will ET Be Here Soon? NASA Brings Scientists, Theologians Together To Prepare</a></b><br /><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://cempaka-hotspots.blogspot.nl/2013/12/us-congress-has-close-encounter-over.html" target="_blank">US Congress has close encounter over extraterrestrial life</a></b><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://cempaka-green.blogspot.nl/2011/02/canadas-ex-defense-minister-us-knows.html" target="_blank">Canada's ex-defense minister: U.S. knows how aliens can make us greener</a></b></span><o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="338" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RGyFWyNuF3s" width="450"></iframe></div><br /><br /><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://cempaka-green.blogspot.nl/2012/08/the-big-picture-you-are-not-alone.html" target="_blank">"The Big Picture - You Are Not Alone" - &nbsp;Feb 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)</a></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.kryon.com/k_channel12_comonquestions.html" target="_blank">"Common Questions from Non-Lightworkers" - Feb 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)</a></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><i>"...&nbsp;</i>Question Three: Is there life on other planets?</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Are you kidding? There's life everywhere. Everywhere!&nbsp;Right now, your scientists are searching for microbial life on all the planets and their moons in your solar system, and they will eventually find it. They expect to find it. They will eventually understand that the seeds of life are everywhere.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How much life might there be? How long has it been "out there"? When science starts to realize the scope of how long life has been in your galaxy, they will begin to see something counterintuitive to evolution - their own Human history.&nbsp;How old is your Universe? Ask your scientists and they will say about 13 billion years. That's OK. Let's use their numbers.&nbsp;How old is your own planet - 4 or 5 billion, perhaps? Correct.&nbsp;But how old is humanity? Why weren't you here with the dinosaurs? You think the earth wasn't ready? Do you think that perhaps that which controls evolution was a little too stupid to make a Human sooner, but the process could make a dinosaur? Have you ever thought about these things?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you put the earth's entire history into a 24-hour clock, life itself only started in the last hour and humanity, all of civilization, happened the last few seconds. Isn't that odd to you? Therefore, in a Universe that may be 13 billion years old, you arrived in the last few seconds.&nbsp;<b>Did you ever think maybe you're the newest ones on the block? Well, you'd be right.</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>If the Universe is really that old, do you think perhaps there are civilizations in your galaxy that might be a billion or more years older than you? If that's the case, do you think perhaps they have gone through anything you're going through? Do you think any of them might have had your DNA attributes? Perhaps they also went through what you are going through spiritually? Perhaps they even went into a quantum ascension status? The answer is dozens of them.</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><b>You already know them and you've listed them in your publications. The ones who directly seeded you are called&nbsp;Pleiadians. The ones who seeded them might be Octurian and the ones who seeded them may be even Orion.&nbsp;They're everywhere, and they're all here as well. They're looking at you, for you are the ones who are next, and you are passing this marker of the shift</b></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Oh, dear ones, it's going to be a long time before you really know any of these things to be your reality. The first step is peace on Earth. The next is a new kind of Human evolution that is going to increase your DNA efficiency to 100% and you're going to live a long time.&nbsp;</b>Every time I say that, there are Humans in their intellectual mind saying,&nbsp;<i>"Well, there is a geometric birth rate going on. We're not going to make it. It's going to over-crowd and we are going to run out of food. So what you're saying, Kryon, can't be a good thing. We're all going to be suffering and killing each other for food."</i></span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let me address this, for if that is your thought, Human, you are assuming Humans are stupid and haven't figured out what's going on and why there's so much birth. You assume they can't control it because they haven't figured it out? I want to tell you, you're going to see something you didn't expect. You're going to see a decline in birth rate because Humans are smart and they're getting smarter. They're going to see that quality of life is linked to the number of children they have, and they're going to figure out the solution. It won't be how many children their church says they should have. They are going to do it intuitively. You're going to see it sooner than not.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You are going to see wisdom on the planet in many areas that no sociologist would ever have predicted. You will surprise them all, and it's going to happen without a government program. It's going to happen because you decide you want it. It's going to happen collectively, and you may even see it soon. Look for negative birth rates in first-world countries. Where Humans are able to see a larger picture and have freedom of information, the situation will not be what you have predicted.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><b>Is there life on other planets? The scientists are saying,&nbsp;<i>"It's going to be a long time before we get to the stars, you know? We have to get in this little metal can and put air in it, and then travel in it for years and years before we ever get to the next star."</i>&nbsp;Meanwhile, a&nbsp;Pleiadian&nbsp;can do it in the blink of an eye! What do you think is going on there? Do you even believe me?</b></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Not long ago, if you wanted to communicate to someone far away, you sent a letter. It was carried by a horse. It took a month to get a response. Now you communicate instantly!&nbsp; Why is this so unbelievable to you about travel?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span lang="EN-US">I will tell you, as long as you stay in 3D, you'll still be getting in little metal cans and air suits and going to planets.&nbsp;<b>As soon as you begin the quantum age, however, you will simply wish yourself there, because you will be entangled with everything and can go with intent.</b>&nbsp;If you don't believe this now, you will later, for what I give you is true. It may be lifetimes and lifetimes from now, but the group that is before me is the group that is going to come back over and over and over. The difference is that you're done coming back in an old energy.&nbsp;</span>This is a new energy. ..”</span></span></div><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>Cempakanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714217483042127098.post-13301925926985749982015-02-21T02:10:00.000-08:002015-02-21T02:10:18.102-08:00Controversy-Hit Samba School Wins Rio Carnival Title<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/features/controversy-hit-samba-school-wins-rio-carnival-title/" target="_blank">Jakarta Globe – AFP</a>, Feb 19, 2015</span><br /> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M1021sHUv-g/VOhYQJgrnmI/AAAAAAABpgM/q6zfxN-B8qo/s1600/04623521.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M1021sHUv-g/VOhYQJgrnmI/AAAAAAABpgM/q6zfxN-B8qo/s1600/04623521.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Members of the samba school Beija-Flor perform on the second day of the<br />&nbsp;parades of the special groups of the Carnival of Rio de Janeiro, at the Sambodromo<br />in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 16 February 2015. (EPA Photo/Luiz Eduardo Perez)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Rio de Janeiro.</b> A Brazilian samba school shrugged off a controversy over alleged funding by an African strongman president and went on to claim its 13th win at the Rio Carnival championship on Wednesday.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Beija-Flor school, whose name means hummingbird, has denied media reports it was bankrolled to the tune of nearly $5 million by the president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Obiang Nguema and his son are facing allegations of money laundering and corruption. The leader holds an iron grip over tiny, oil-rich Equatorial Guinea and critics have labeled him a ruthless dictator.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hailing from the Rio suburb of Nilopolis, Beija-Flor scored 259.9 points to land its 13th title and see off rivals Salgueiro by 0.4 points.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Known for its creativity, the Beija-Flor team will now bring the final curtain down on this year’s carnival festivities at Saturday’s Parade of Champions, comprising the top six schools.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Portela school came third, and last year’s grand champions, Unidos da Tijuca, were in fourth place.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The press service for Beija-Flor, whose theme was a “strong, joyful and colorful” Africa, told AFP they had merely received “cultural support and imported fabrics” from Equatorial Guinea, which is located on the Atlantic coast in central Africa.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After results were announced, Beija-Flor supporters burst into wild cheers at the Sambadrome in downtown Rio, where Sunday and Monday night the top 12 samba schools had battled it out for glory.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I am very emotional, very happy,” Rayssa Oliveira, one of Beija-Flor’s beauty queens, told Globo television.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The jury considered various aspects of each team’s performance in carefully choreographed parades at the Sambadrome in front of crowds of some 72,000 people.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The jurors award points in categories ranging from the highly decorative school floats, the quality of their massed ranks of percussionists and how well the roughly 4,000-strong team move in sync with each other while singing their school song.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The record of carnival celebrations dates back to 1723 – but the first samba school was not formed until 1928.</span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Agence France-Presse</i></span><o:p></o:p><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Related Article:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://cempaka-south-america.blogspot.nl/2015/02/japanese-dancers-find-samba-salvation.html" target="_blank">Japanese dancers find samba salvation in quake tragedy</a></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div></div>Cempakanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714217483042127098.post-45831301626398340362015-02-19T12:27:00.000-08:002015-02-19T12:28:09.381-08:00Tanzania must halt violence against albinos: UN rights chief<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/tanzania-must-halt-violence-against-albinos-un-rights-113526508.html" target="_blank">Yahoo – AFP</a>, 19 Feb 2015</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uncCcWyXcKg/VOZHIxPmxCI/AAAAAAABpdg/pJhsijiJnjY/s1600/0782e0d0071df27fb62888ea67efc7b94d2212ca.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uncCcWyXcKg/VOZHIxPmxCI/AAAAAAABpdg/pJhsijiJnjY/s1600/0782e0d0071df27fb62888ea67efc7b94d2212ca.jpg" height="285" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Albinism is a hereditary genetic condition which causes a total absence of<br />&nbsp;pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes, affecting one Tanzanian in 1,400, often<br />as a result of inbreeding (AFP Photo/Tony Karumba)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Geneva (AFP) - The UN human rights chief harshly condemned Thursday the murder and mutilation of an albino toddler in Tanzania, demanding authorities protect albinos, whose body parts are used for witchcraft in the country.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Violence and discrimination against people with albinism must be halted," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said in a statement, condemning "the horrific murder and mutilation of Yohana Bahati."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The one-year old boy was seized by men with machetes from his home in northern Tanzania's Chato district overnight Saturday, and his mother was badly injured in the attack.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Police found his body, with his arms and legs hacked off, on Tuesday.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zeid said attacks on people with albinism, which are often motivated by the use of body parts for witchcraft rituals, had claimed the lives of at least 75 people since 2000.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He warned that the attacks seemed to be on the rise, with at least three incidents over the past two months.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I call on the Tanzanian authorities to swiftly investigate and prosecute perpetrators of this terrible crime and to strengthen its protection measures for people with albinism," Zeid said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The UN repeated its fears that the uptick in attacks against albinos could be linked to looming general and presidential elections in October 2015, as political campaigners may be turning to influential sorcerers to improve their odds.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"This is the year of elections in Tanzania and, as some analysts have suggested, it could be a dangerous year for people living with albinism," UN country chief Alvaro Rodriguez warned Wednesday.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Albino body parts sell for around $600 in Tanzania, with an entire corpse fetching $75,000, according to the UN.</span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Albinism is a hereditary genetic condition which causes a total absence of pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes. It affects one Tanzanian in 1,400, often as a result of inbreeding, experts say. In the West, it affects just one person in 20,000.</span><o:p></o:p></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>Cempakanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714217483042127098.post-24344026900537697342015-02-19T12:14:00.000-08:002015-02-19T12:14:19.854-08:00Thousands rally after Burundi journalist released<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yahoo – AFP, 19 Feb 2015</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DRWayE7VOkQ/VOZC_Dyz9cI/AAAAAAABpdA/oeO3lqYsV-U/s1600/Part-PAR-Par8101647-1-1-0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DRWayE7VOkQ/VOZC_Dyz9cI/AAAAAAABpdA/oeO3lqYsV-U/s1600/Part-PAR-Par8101647-1-1-0.jpg" height="256" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Burundians gather outside the headquarters of the popular independent African</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;Public Radio (RPA) in Bujumbura to welcome the release on bail of its director</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;accused of "complicity" in the murder of three Italian nuns, on February 18,&nbsp;</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">2015 (AFP Photo/Esdras Ndikumana)</span><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bujumbura (Burundi) (AFP) - Thousands marched through Burundi's capital Thursday in one of the largest demonstrations in recent years after the release of a popular journalist and government critic from jail, months ahead of key elections.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Vast crowds singing and dancing filled the streets of Bujumbura a day after Bob Rugurika, director of the popular independent African Public Radio (RPA), was released from prison on bail.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There was no official figure for how many took to the streets, but residents said the mass rally of tens of thousands was the largest they could remember.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I'm 50 and I have never seen such a crowd in the streets," said Fabian, a teacher, saying the only event comparable in size he could remember were celebrations for Burundi's first elected president Melchior Ndadaye in 1993.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The arrest of Rugurika for "complicity" in the murder of three Italian nuns sparked protests by civil rights activists and fellow journalists, who have accused the government of doing all it can to sideline political challengers ahead of elections in May and June, including arrests, harassment and a clampdown on free speech.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The radio is seen as close to the political opposition, and often interviews those who say they are victims of injustice or discrimination.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I have no words to thank the Burundian population," Rugurika said in radio broadcast, after entering the capital followed by supporters crammed into dozens of cars and hundreds on motorbikes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Thanks to your support, your commitment... I'm free at last."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>'Fed-up' with government</b></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The interior ministry had initially banned demonstrations but the huge crowds took police by surprise, and they pulled back to leave marchers to continue peacefully.</span></div><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OeEQSR7pgHQ/VOZDqAas9yI/AAAAAAABpdI/SnwkA2oZ6eo/s1600/Part-PAR-Par8101650-1-1-0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OeEQSR7pgHQ/VOZDqAas9yI/AAAAAAABpdI/SnwkA2oZ6eo/s1600/Part-PAR-Par8101650-1-1-0.jpg" height="288" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Burundians gather outside the headquarters of the popular independent African</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;Public Radio (RPA) in Bujumbura to welcome the release on bail of its director</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;director accused of "complicity" in the murder of three Italian nuns on</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">February 18,&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">2015 (AFP Photo/Esdras Ndikumana)</span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thierry Vircoulon of the International Crisis Group (ICG) said the demonstration showed that people in the capital were "fed up with those in power and their methods."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rugurika was arrested on January 21 after broadcasting the purported confession of a man claiming he was one of the killers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A court on Wednesday granted him bail of 15 million Burundi francs ($9,500, 8,400 euros), but his lawyer Lambert Nigarura said there was a need for a proper investigation into the "real murderers of the three nuns."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For broadcasting the alleged confession, Rugurika was charged with complicity in the murders, "breach of public solidarity" and disclosing confidential information regarding a case.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The supposed confession contradicted a police account of the crime and implicated the security services.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Burundi, a small landlocked nation in central Africa's Great Lakes region, emerged in 2006 from a brutal 13-year civil war. The political climate remains fractious ahead of local, parliamentary and presidential polls beginning in May.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The three Roman Catholic nuns, aged between 75 and 83, were murdered at a convent north of Bujumbura in September.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rights groups have warned of growing fears of the risk of violence ahead of elections, with a string of attacks including a five-day battle last month between the army and rebels.</span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">President Pierre Nkurunziza, in power since 2005, is expected to run for a third term in office despite opponents' claims that a new mandate would violate Burundi's constitution.</span><o:p></o:p></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>Cempakanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714217483042127098.post-24281163627339127492015-02-15T01:19:00.000-08:002015-02-15T01:20:09.060-08:00Chinese-built railway in Angola opens<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20150215000121&amp;cid=1102" target="_blank">Want China Times</a>, Xinhua 2015-02-15</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UmL6IFVvYIo/VOBkaBrzp6I/AAAAAAABpSM/Y64TaR35jNc/s1600/C215X0041H_N71.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UmL6IFVvYIo/VOBkaBrzp6I/AAAAAAABpSM/Y64TaR35jNc/s1600/C215X0041H_N71.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A train at Lobito station in Benguela, Angola, Feb. 11. (Photo/Xinhua)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A 1,344-kilometer railway built by China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) for Angola was completed and open to traffic on Saturday, the company told Xinhua.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The railway linking the coastal city of Lobito in the west and Luau bordering DR Congo is the second longest railway built by a Chinese company for Africa, after the Tanzania-Zambia railway.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Tanzania-Zambia railway was built in the 1970s.</span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The railway, built since 2004, will be linked with the Angola-Zambian railway and the Tanzania-Zambia railway in the future, according to the company.</span><o:p></o:p></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>Cempakanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714217483042127098.post-42540674388266318092015-02-14T13:05:00.001-08:002015-02-14T13:07:20.342-08:00Shiite protests in Bahrain mark anniversary of Arab Spring uprising<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Hundreds of Shiite protesters have taken to the streets of Bahrain on Saturday, which marks the fourth anniversary of Arab Spring-inspired demonstrations in the island country.</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.dw.de/shiite-protests-in-bahrain-mark-anniversary-of-arab-spring-uprising/a-18258204" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>, 14 Feb 2015<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jwpAyfDl1IY/VN-2kEzSlTI/AAAAAAABpRc/eXOhh756y6c/s1600/0%2C%2C18258140_303%2C00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jwpAyfDl1IY/VN-2kEzSlTI/AAAAAAABpRc/eXOhh756y6c/s1600/0%2C%2C18258140_303%2C00.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A demonstrator carries the flag of Bahrain in one of the streets that are filled<br />&nbsp;with toxic gas used by the Bahraini forces during the clashes, which came one<br />&nbsp;day before the fourth anniversary of the Bahraini uprising, called revolution<br />February 14, in Sitra south of the capital Manama.</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Men and women waved the country's flag and held up portraits of <a href="http://www.dw.de/bahrain-human-rights-and-the-islamic-state/a-18201328" target="_blank">imprisoned activists</a> as they marched. Witnesses say they chanted "Down Hamad," referring to Bahrain's Sunni King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tires were burned and village roads blocked off by protesters using rocks, branches and garbage containers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Security had been boosted in preparation for the event, in an attempt to keep demonstrators out of the Bahraini capital Manama. Pearl Square, at the heart of the city, was the focal point of the 2011 revolution, and remains closed off.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Police fired tear gas and sound bombs at marchers, though there were accusations on Twitter of shots being fired causing injuries, and of several people being arrested.</span></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">Shotgun injuries today in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bahrain?src=hash">#Bahrain</a> by riot police after attacking peaceful protests demanding democracy and justice <a href="http://t.co/aDHQp9obwF">pic.twitter.com/aDHQp9obwF</a><br />— Hasan Al-Shaikh (@hasan1422011) <a href="https://twitter.com/hasan1422011/status/566566660526448640">February 14, 2015</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No casualties were reported.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Earlier in the week authorities had advised Bahrainis to stay away "from activities that could negatively affect security or general order," warning that anyone involved in violence would be held responsible.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Protest action is restricted in the tiny island nation, with opposition activists banned from gathering in large groups. Tactics such as security checkpoints and tear gas are used by government forces to stop protestors from making it to major highways.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Unresolved tensions</b><o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bahrain is home to the US Navy's 5th fleet, and is a <a href="http://www.dw.de/britain-bahrain-agree-to-increase-security-cooperation-amid-is-threats/a-18114160" target="_blank">key Western ally in the fight against "Islamic State"</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Four years ago Bahrain's Sunni monarchy moved swiftly to shut down protests led by the country's majority Shiite population, motivated by a wave of similar action across the Middle East and North Africa.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Within weeks Bahraini authorities, supported by Saudi and Emirati security forces, had snuffed out all protests.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since then, relations between the Sunni administration and its largely Shiite opponents have continued to deteriorate, with repeated talks unable to come to a resolution.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The opposition <a href="http://www.dw.de/bahrains-partly-boycotted-elections-go-into-runoffs/a-18101307" target="_blank">boycotted November's parliamentary elections</a>, at which Sunnis won the majority of seats.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In recent years, Bahrain has been heavily criticized by human rights groups for revoking the citizenship of several activists.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a statement, Amnesty International said fundamental freedoms have increasingly been curtailed and called on the kingdom to use the anniversary to "announce genuine and long overdue reforms".<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Monday authorities closed down broadcaster Alarab News Channel, just over a week after it had launched. One of its first broadcasts was an interview with a Shiite opponent of Bahrain's leaders.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>an/gsw (AP, AFP)</i></span><o:p></o:p></div>Cempakanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714217483042127098.post-79194190760059266972015-02-14T03:32:00.000-08:002015-02-14T03:32:26.264-08:00Kenyan roses underwhelm Chinese customers on Valentine's Day<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20150214000106&amp;cid=1103" target="_blank">Want China Times</a>, Xinhua 2015-02-14</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"A rose is a rose", but does it convey a higher romantic ideal if it has come all the way from Africa?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zhang is a white-collar worker from Hangzhou in Zhejiang province. She was a little disappointed when she received her flowers from the courier. "They looked OK but not as fresh as I expected," she said. "I guess it's understandable, since they have been on such a long journey."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zhang ordered the roses on Chinese e-commerce website Tmall. The bouquet cost her 99 yuan (US$16).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I enjoy decorating my house with flowers. Usually I buy them at the store near my home. I just wanted something different on Valentine's Day, so I tried these Kenyan roses," she said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"They are not very expensive compared to ordinary Chinese roses, the price of which has doubled recently from 5 yuan (US$0.80) to 10 yuan (US$1.60) each," she added.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wang Licheng, director of promotions at Tmall, said Chinese consumers are increasingly interested in foreign flowers. Tmall has sold tulips from the Netherlands and roses from Ecuador. In conjunction with iishang, a flower delivery network, this is the first year they have brought roses from Africa.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zhan Guang, vice president of iishang, said the company ordered 400,000 roses from Kenya and all were sold within a few days.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Kenyan roses are grown beside Lake Naivasha. Nourished by volcanic ash and the abundant equatorial sunshine, they have vibrant colors and a long flowering period. When they land in China, they are sent to be packed in Beijing, Shanghai or Kunming and from there go all over the country.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"It only takes a matter of hours for the flowers to be flown from Kenyan gardens to Chinese customers," said Zhan. "The price is generally three to five times of that of the Chinese alternatives."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kenyan roses can be found at many other online flower sellers at various prices.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wang Yin is the owner of an online flower store in Hangzhou. The store has three special Valentine deals–small Kenyan roses, large Ecuadorian roses and Dutch tulips.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"The Kenyan roses were the most popular and all 100 bouquets were sold soon after arriving," she said. "They are spray roses. Each stem is clustered with several blooms and buds, so the bouquets seem especially full and festive, making them perfect holiday presents."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Trade between China and Kenya has been growing for decades. In 2013, China became Kenya's largest source of foreign direct investment and second largest trading partner.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eliud Njenga, executive director of Pigeon Blooms in Kenya, said the company has built partnerships with Chinese companies and exported roses to China in large quantities for a few years.</span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tmall's Wang said, "Kenya is a major flower grower and China still has a large potential market for Kenyan flowers. We plan to introduce more of them to Chinese customers in the future."</span></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"></span><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ev_7YTbIUwA/VNzW7azqXcI/AAAAAAABpFg/HSVQwePSoOo/s1600/Part-MVD-Mvd6662609-1-1-0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ev_7YTbIUwA/VNzW7azqXcI/AAAAAAABpFg/HSVQwePSoOo/s1600/Part-MVD-Mvd6662609-1-1-0.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Workers prepare roses for export at a farm in Nemocon,&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Cundinamarca&nbsp;</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">department,&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Colombia on February 2, 2015</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(AFP Photo/Eitan Abramovich)</span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Related Article:</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://cempaka-south-america.blogspot.nl/2015/02/colombia-races-to-meet-valentines-day.html" target="_blank">Colombia races to meet Valentine's Day rose demand</a></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div></div>Cempakanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714217483042127098.post-25982876332739911752015-02-12T11:21:00.000-08:002015-02-12T11:21:14.059-08:00President Zuma's state of the nation speech disrupted over graft allegations<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Members of South Africa's opposition have been escorted out of parliament. They had disrupted the president's annual speech with questions over funding for the refurbishment of his home.</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.dw.de/president-zumas-state-of-the-nation-speech-disrupted-over-graft-allegations/a-18254981" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>, 12 Feb 2015<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YCvvuh--87w/VNz87ySP8_I/AAAAAAABpHk/GGWNW9Xwd_s/s1600/0%2C%2C16902451_303%2C00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YCvvuh--87w/VNz87ySP8_I/AAAAAAABpHk/GGWNW9Xwd_s/s1600/0%2C%2C16902451_303%2C00.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Security guards in South Africa entered the parliament on Thursday to remove opposition lawmakers after they disrupted President Jacob Zuma's annual address on the state of the nation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just after Zuma started his speech, far-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) lawmakers disrupted him with questions over a case of alleged graft to renovations to his home to the tune of $23 million (around 20 million euros).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Speaker Baleka Mbete responded to the questions, saying the day's parliament session had not been "a questions session."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After EFF lawmakers were removed by security, opposition Democratic Alliance lawmakers walked out. "You can't send police into parliament," Mmusi Maimane, the party's leader, said as he led his party out.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zuma has been accused of using state funds for the refurbishing of his home, which is called Nkandla.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Julius Malema, the leader of the new EFF party, which was formed to create more economic equality for the poor, demands Zuma pay back the money to the state, but the president, who has been in office since 2009, has denied any wrongdoing.</span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>sb/rc (AFP, AP, Reuters)</i></span><o:p></o:p></div>Cempakanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714217483042127098.post-72506707135543372912015-02-10T11:58:00.001-08:002015-02-10T11:58:56.451-08:00South Africa considers viability of legal rhino horn trade<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Team will look into technical and strategic aspects of the trade in response to poaching crisis, but ministry says South Africa has not taken a position on the issue</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/feb/10/south-africa-considers-viability-of-legal-rhino-horn-trade" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>, AFP, Tuesday 10 February 2015</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8pWKPMcH_Nc/VNph3O7P6hI/AAAAAAABo9k/Fi7D_0EQUKE/s1600/1000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8pWKPMcH_Nc/VNph3O7P6hI/AAAAAAABo9k/Fi7D_0EQUKE/s1600/1000.jpg" height="240" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The carcass of a rhino killed for its horn being prepared for postmortem, in Kruger<br />National Park, South Africa, 4 February 2015. Photograph: Salym Fayad/EPA</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">South Africa has appointed a panel of experts to examine the viability of a legal rhino horn trade, the environmental affairs ministry said on Tuesday as poaching of the species spiked to record levels.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The 21-member task team will look into technical and strategic aspects of the trade.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“It is important to emphasise that South Africa has not taken a position on the issue and will not do so until the committee has completed its work and presented its findings,” said the ministry in a statement.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g3fX-a3GpSo/VNpiyOlMhlI/AAAAAAABo9s/fw8p5dZa3tI/s1600/Rhinos.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g3fX-a3GpSo/VNpiyOlMhlI/AAAAAAABo9s/fw8p5dZa3tI/s1600/Rhinos.PNG" height="200" width="151" /></a></div><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The committee which includes conservationists, scientists and immigration authorities, is tasked with identifying additional measures to curb the illegal killings, including enhanced intelligence to break up syndicates.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It has to submit its report to government before year end.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">South Africa, which is home to the world’s largest rhino population is facing a poaching crisis, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/22/record-number-rhinos-killed-south-africa-2014" target="_blank">with 1,215 animals killed in 2014</a>, a 21% increase from the previous year.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The slaughter of one of Africa’s most iconic wildlife species is driven by a demand for its horn in Asian countries.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The powdered horn, made of the substance similar to human fingernails is popularly believed to have medicinal properties, although there is no scientific proof for the claim.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Internationally, the rhino horn trade was banned by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1977.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But a domestic trade continued within South Africa’s borders for decades. Government later placed a moratorium on the local trade in 2009.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If South Africa decides to pursue a legal rhino horn trade, it will have to win over two-thirds of member states at the next CITES conference, which the country will host in 2016.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Poaching in South Africa has been on the rise despite multifaceted efforts to stop the problem.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last year, authorities relocated a number of rhinos from the famed Kruger national park, in an attempt to save them from illegal hunters.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The large park, approximately the size of Wales, has experienced the highest number of killings.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is said that a kilogramme of rhino horn sells for up to $100,000 (£65,627) in Vietnam, double the price of gold.</span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">South Africa is said to be home to around 20,000 rhinos, some 80% of the worldwide population.</span><o:p></o:p></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>Cempakanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714217483042127098.post-31496148492024738722015-02-09T11:33:00.000-08:002015-02-09T13:03:37.759-08:00'The curse is over!' - Ivorians rejoice in African Cup win<div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/curse-over-ivorians-delirious-over-african-cup-win-114153726--sow.html" target="_blank">Yahoo – AFP</a>, Pierre Donadieu, Adama Bakayoko, 9 Feb 2015</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JtkvtwNJ09s/VNkfFSZyLoI/AAAAAAABo4I/vdtCIEwawdg/s1600/Part-PAR-Par8095003-1-1-0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JtkvtwNJ09s/VNkfFSZyLoI/AAAAAAABo4I/vdtCIEwawdg/s1600/Part-PAR-Par8095003-1-1-0.jpg" height="275" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara (L) and Ivory Coast's midfielder Yaya Toure</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;wave at the crowd during a welcoming parade in Abidjan on February 9, 2015</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(AFP Photo/Sia Kambou)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Abidjan (AFP) - A million ecstatic Ivorians flocked to the streets of Abidjan Monday to welcome home the national football squad after its nail-biting victory over Ghana in the Africa Cup of Nations final, police said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday's 9-8 penalty shootout win by The Elephants, who are due to parade in the city's football stadium, ended a 23-year Africa Cup of Nations title drought.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A tightly-packed crowd amassed along the road linking the country's commercial capital Abidjan to the airport -- the route victorious members of The Elephants squad were to take on their way for a celebration of Sunday's final victory in Equatorial Guinea.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After being greeted by Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara upon landing at 1400 GMT, team members waded through joyous fans before mounting a bus taking them to the national Felix Houphouet-Boigny stadium.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to Ivorian public radio, the 35,000-seat stadium was filled to capacity by mid-morning, and despite appeals from authorities for fans to avoid the crammed venue, crowds unable to enter spilled out into surrounding neighbourhoods.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DCF4q7A_OIA/VNkfgh2GqvI/AAAAAAABo4Q/lgnJLBCpafY/s1600/8986bbc21467b34c0f6ecf2a961480ee33dab1c1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DCF4q7A_OIA/VNkfgh2GqvI/AAAAAAABo4Q/lgnJLBCpafY/s1600/8986bbc21467b34c0f6ecf2a961480ee33dab1c1.jpg" height="272" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Ivory Coast's Cup of Nations winning team (AFP Photo/Carl de Souza)</span><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The nervy final ended in an explosion of joy across Ivory Coast after goalkeeper Boubacar Barry -- nicknamed "Coppa" -- drove home the winning penalty shot after blocking a spot-kick from his Ghanaian counterpart Razak Braimah.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Monday Barry was treated to a hero's reception, with fans chanting "Coppa, you are a god!"<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Elsewhere in Abidjan and throughout the nation, an army of orange jersey-clad fans took advantage of the paid holiday Outtara decreed in honour of the victory.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"When we flew over the city we saw the amazing crowds. It was really moving," enthused striker Wilfried Bony, who was taken aback by the popular outpouring.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wI2yUjkgMO4/VNkf5-zOI_I/AAAAAAABo4Y/Le2UFddX9Qs/s1600/Part-REF-TS-Par8094686-1-1-0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wI2yUjkgMO4/VNkf5-zOI_I/AAAAAAABo4Y/Le2UFddX9Qs/s1600/Part-REF-TS-Par8094686-1-1-0.jpg" height="132" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Supporters of the Ivorian football national&nbsp;</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">team force a police barrier to enter the</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;Houphouet Boigny stadium in Abidjan</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;on February 9, 2015 to welcome their</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">team (AFP Photo/Sia Kambou)</span><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"You can tell Ivory Coast is a nation that loves football," quipped striker Salomon Kalou.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The surge of popular glee began the second the winning goal was scored, breaking the tension created by 90 minutes of scoreless football, plus two periods of blank extra-time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"The curse is finally over! The Ivorians are the kings of Africa tonight," cheered Alexandre, a student who watched the game with hundreds of others on a giant screen at Felix Houphouet-Boigny University.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"History has repeated itself," said Moussa, a young supporter, who had painted his cheeks in the orange, green and white of the Ivorian flag, referring to the country's last Africa Cup win in 1992 -- also in a final against Ghana that ended in penalties.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Ivory Coast 'reconciled'</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some fans pointed to the victory as a symbol of unity in a country scarred by years of conflict.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"For years we wept but we deserve this Cup. Today we are all behind this team," Ahmed, another fan in Abidjan, said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">National cohesion had been an elusive ideal for most of the past decade.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Mo6rsvoodaY/VNkgLLb5B1I/AAAAAAABo4g/Fxj39oZ8Mxc/s1600/Part-PAR-Par8094595-1-1-0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Mo6rsvoodaY/VNkgLLb5B1I/AAAAAAABo4g/Fxj39oZ8Mxc/s1600/Part-PAR-Par8094595-1-1-0.jpg" height="140" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A supporter of the Ivorian football national&nbsp;</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">team holds a board reading "Ivory Coast</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">wins,&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">thanks ADO" referring to Ivorian&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">President Alassane&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Dramane Ouattara,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">in Abidjan on February 9,&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">2015&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(AFP Photo/Sia Kambou)</span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The world's biggest cocoa producer was divided between 2003 and 2011 between a rebel-held north and a south controlled by forces loyal to ex-president Laurent Gbagbo.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The violence peaked after a disputed presidential poll in late 2010. After four months of fighting in which 3,000 people were killed, forces loyal to Ouattara, the internationally-recognised winner, ousted Gbagbo.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Throughout the conflict years The Elephants were held up as a symbol of unity -- but the team's failure to achieve glory, despite being fronted by Chelsea legend Didier Drogba for 12 years until 2014, gave the country little cause for celebration.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Until Sunday.</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Ivory Coast has been reconciled tonight. We don't need politicians to reconcile us. The Elephants did it!," said Mamadou Soro, a teaching inspector in the central city of Bouake.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ouattara's administration attempted to reap dividends from the win, which comes nine months before the country returns to the polls.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Within minutes of the final whistle the president's Rally of the Republicans party rushed out a statement heaping praise on the champions' "brilliance".</span></span><br /><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"We have a wonderful team and an exceptional manager. This team was consistent and united. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bravo to them!," Ouattara said on national television.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ujbnmKMiPH8" width="450"></iframe><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div>Cempakanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714217483042127098.post-64391565573202920662015-02-08T07:50:00.000-08:002015-02-08T07:50:56.510-08:00Somalia PM intervenes over US money transfer closure<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/somalia-pm-intervenes-over-us-money-transfer-closure-132702599.html" target="_blank">Yahoo – AFP</a>, 8 Feb 2015</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mKSHVP2mwws/VNeFbOnE4zI/AAAAAAABoxk/vq95W_vSg4o/s1600/15e02eefbb511c47367c7c980309dd3c66bf0d64.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mKSHVP2mwws/VNeFbOnE4zI/AAAAAAABoxk/vq95W_vSg4o/s1600/15e02eefbb511c47367c7c980309dd3c66bf0d64.jpg" height="271" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">File photo shows an employee of Barakaat Bank of Somalia listening to a customer <br />who was told that he cannot receive his money because the bank accounts were<br />frozen by the US, in Mogadishu on November 10, 2001 (AFP Photo/Pedro Ugarte)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mogadishu (AFP) - Somalia said Sunday it was trying to prevent the closure of the main money transfer service from the United States, warning the move would have an "astronomical impact" on the war-torn country's economy.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The US-based Merchants Bank of California has said it will halt its services to money transfer companies, a decision aid groups say would stop up to 80 percent of the $200 million sent annually by relatives in the United States from reaching Somalia.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I have personally spoken to the US government on this pressing issue and repeated my calls to US banks to reconsider their decision," Somalia's Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With no formal banking system in the impoverished Horn of Africa nation, diaspora Somalis across the world turn to money transfer services to send money back home support their families, sending some $1.3 billion (1.1 billion euros) each year, dwarfing foreign aid.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They send money home via transfer businesses which can accept deposits abroad and immediately credit recipients. But banks have become increasingly reluctant to keep them as customers as regulators crack down on money laundering and the funding terrorism.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I fully understand the limitations imposed on them by government regulations," the prime minister said, describing the transfers as a "vital humanitarian lifeline".<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Through good open negotiations, I will seek to appease their concerns and I will do everything in my power to find a permanent legitimate and transparent solution."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Thursday aid agency Adeso said Somalia faced "devastating consequences" from the measures.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Unfortunately, this decision comes at a time when nearly three quarters of a million Somalis are facing acute food insecurity, and we are likely to see that number rise if money transfer companies cannot remit funds," Adeso director Degan Ali said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Somalia has been unstable since the collapse of Siad Barre's hardline regime in 1991, with the country's internationally-backed government, along with African Union forces, currently battling Al-Qaeda affiliated Shebab rebels.</span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Washington is a leading backer of the government.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>Cempakanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714217483042127098.post-67391142984131805982015-02-08T04:39:00.001-08:002015-02-08T04:39:25.336-08:00Baghdad citizens celebrate end of curfew<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Revelers in Baghdad have celebrated into the early hours after the Iraqi government lifted a decade-long curfew. Hours earlier, two bombings in the Iraqi capital killed and wounded dozens of people.</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.dw.de/baghdad-citizens-celebrate-end-of-curfew/a-18243031" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>, 8 Feb 2015<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iOV0W9wImQI/VNdYgGZ3GtI/AAAAAAABow0/iW-wAKcxOqA/s1600/0%2C%2C18242961_303%2C00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iOV0W9wImQI/VNdYgGZ3GtI/AAAAAAABow0/iW-wAKcxOqA/s1600/0%2C%2C18242961_303%2C00.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The streets of central Baghdad were filled with young Iraqis on Saturday night after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi lifted a curfew which had largely been in place since 2004.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Under the curfew, Baghdad residents had been told to stay at home between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Families as well as groups of young men driving cars and waving flags were seen celebrating in the Iraqi capital into the small hours.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Before, we felt like we were in a prison," a cafe owner, Faez Adbullillah Ahmed, told AFP news agency.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The curfew was originally enforced as part of a longstanding policy which aimed to curb violence in the capital at night.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Al-Abadi decided last week to bring the curfew to an end, with his office saying that the move would allow there to "be normal life as much as possible, despite the existence of a state of war."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The strict measure failed, however, to prevent deadly bombings which continue to plague Baghdad.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>'Islamic State' attack</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just hours before the curfew was lifted on Saturday, a <a href="http://www.dw.de/deadly-bombings-hit-baghdad-ahead-of-planned-curfew-end/a-18242146" target="_blank">suicide bomber detonated explosives</a>in the Shiite neighborhood of New Baghdad, killing some 14 people and wounding at least 38, according to police officials.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shortly afterward, two improvised explosive devices positioned 25 meters (27 yards) apart went off at the popular Shorja market, killing at least 11 people and wounding at least 26, according to police.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">SITE Intelligence Group, a US-based terrorism monitor, later said that the "<a href="http://www.dw.de/opinion-is-has-become-simply-repulsive/a-18233735" target="_blank">Islamic State</a>" (IS) militant group had claimed responsibility for the first attack.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite the ongoing conflict between Iraqi forces and jihadist extremists, Baghdad has remained relatively calm in recent months. Some bombings, however, have been known to target Shiite-majority areas in the city.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>ksb/cmk (AP, AFP)</i></span><o:p></o:p></div>Cempakanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714217483042127098.post-39956039533711305332015-02-07T12:28:00.000-08:002015-02-07T12:28:20.917-08:00Shiite leader defends Yemen takeover<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/shiite-leader-defends-yemen-takeover-181646794.html" target="_blank">Yahoo – AFP</a>, Jamal al-Jabiri, 7 Feb 2015</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g7j9UWLlwT0/VNZz8Nn2pFI/AAAAAAABouc/zZHvYlPriww/s1600/Part-NIC-Nic6414751-1-1-0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g7j9UWLlwT0/VNZz8Nn2pFI/AAAAAAABouc/zZHvYlPriww/s1600/Part-NIC-Nic6414751-1-1-0.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Supporters of Shiite Huthi movement gather in a northern Sanaa stadium to watch&nbsp;</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">to a televised address by their chief Abdel Malek al-Huthi on February 7, 2015</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(AFP Photo/Mohammed Huwais)</span><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sanaa (AFP) - Shiite leader Abdel Malek al-Huthi on Saturday defended his powerful militia's establishment of transitional bodies to resolve Yemen's political crisis, in the face of street protests and international criticism.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"This historic and responsible initiative is in the interest of the country... because it fills a political vacuum," Huthi said in a televised address to his supporters gathered in a northern Sanaa stadium.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He said it was "in the interest of all Yemenis without exception", including the separatists of southern Yemen.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sbyB84HN-aM/VNZ0L2yDmjI/AAAAAAABouk/6KnwF5RAzLs/s1600/Part-NIC-Nic6414765-1-1-0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sbyB84HN-aM/VNZ0L2yDmjI/AAAAAAABouk/6KnwF5RAzLs/s1600/Part-NIC-Nic6414765-1-1-0.jpg" height="134" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Supporters of Shiite Huthi movement hold</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;national flags during a gathering in a</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">northern&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Sanaa stadium to watch a</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">televised&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">address by&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">their chief Abdel&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Malek al-Huthi on a giant screen</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">, February 7, 2015 (AFP Photo/</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Mohammed Huwais)</span><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The formation of a "presidential council", announced on Friday, would also head off the threat from Al-Qaeda which has a strong presence in east and south Yemen, Huthi said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"If Al-Qaeda takes control of the country, it will plot against our brothers in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf," he warned.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, Yemen's Gulf neighbours have condemned the moves by the Shiite militia, named Huthis after their leadership, saying they "totally undermine" international and regional efforts to help resolve the impoverished country's crisis.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"The Huthi coup marks a grave and unacceptable escalation... and endangers the security, stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Yemen," said the Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The six Sunni monarchies said their own security was linked to that of their neighbour Yemen, and vowed to take "all the necessary measures to defend their interests", without elaborating.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Shiite militia overran Sanaa in September and seized the presidential palace and key government buildings last month, prompting Western-backed President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and Prime Minister Khalid Bahah to tender their resignations.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In an announcement on Saturday, the Huthis said Hadi's defence minister, General Mahmud al-Subaihi, would chair a newly formed "security commission", which also included the outgoing interior minister.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YUAgwLQzvcc/VNZ1GjFHwqI/AAAAAAABou0/0hZyeRe6GYU/s1600/Part-NIC-Nic6414656-1-1-0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YUAgwLQzvcc/VNZ1GjFHwqI/AAAAAAABou0/0hZyeRe6GYU/s1600/Part-NIC-Nic6414656-1-1-0.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Yellow numbered markers are seen on the</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;ground at the site of a bomb blast at the&nbsp;</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">entrance of the presidential palace in&nbsp;</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Sanaa&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">on February 7, 2015 (AFP Photo/</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Mohammed Huwais)</span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The commission's task would be to "lead the country's affairs until the establishment of a presidential council".</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Blast, demos</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The announcement was followed by a blast outside the Huthi-controlled presidential palace, and protests by thousands of people on the streets of Yemeni cities, witnesses said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gunmen loyal to the Shiite militia fired into the air to disperse demonstrators in Sanaa and detained 17 of them in a second successive day of anti-Huthi protests.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A US official at a security conference in Munich said Washington and its GCC allies "don't agree" with the Huthis' transition plans.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And UN Security Council president Liu Jieyi said its 15 members were ready to "take further steps" if UN-brokered negotiations to resolve Yemen's political crisis were not resumed "immediately".<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Turkey's foreign ministry was also critical, urging the Huthis "to act with common sense, restraint and responsibility at this critical stage in upholding the salvation of the country".<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the home front in the mainly Sunni country, influential tribal leaders in the oil-rich eastern province of Marib said they "rejected the authors of this coup".<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Sunni Islamist party Al-Islah, a major player in Yemeni politics, rejected the "unilateral" Huthi initiative and called for it to be scrapped in favour of a return to political dialogue.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even the General People's Congress of ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has become an ally of the Shiites, said the moves were unconstitutional and called for dialogue.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oO-VT7r5CJs/VNZ0o9PlFII/AAAAAAABous/JWl6JlNlEaA/s1600/Part-NIC-Nic6414672-1-1-0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oO-VT7r5CJs/VNZ0o9PlFII/AAAAAAABous/JWl6JlNlEaA/s1600/Part-NIC-Nic6414672-1-1-0.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Yemeni soldiers and Huthi militiamen stand</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;guard at the entrance of the presidential</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">palace&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">following a blast in Sanaa on</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">February 7, 2015&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(AFP Photo/</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Mohammed Huwais)</span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Friday, the Huthis said they would set up a national council of 551 members to replace parliament in the violence-wracked country, a key US ally in the fight against Al-Qaeda.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The five-member "presidential council" would form a transitional government to run Yemen for two years, they announced.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The declaration came after a Wednesday deadline set by the militia for political parties to resolve Yemen's crisis passed with no agreement, and also called for the formation of a "revolutionary council".<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">UN envoy Jamal Benomar, who has been striving to seek a negotiated solution, was back in Sanaa on Saturday and expected to meet members of the council and political leaders, the Huthi-controlled state new agency Saba reported.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Friday's declaration by the Huthis described Mohammad Ali al-Huthi as "president of the revolutionary council".</span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yemen, which is also fighting an Al-Qaeda insurgency, has been riven by instability since the Arab Spring-inspired uprising that forced autocratic president Saleh from power in 2012.</span><o:p></o:p></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>Cempakanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714217483042127098.post-18883364865831275662015-02-04T11:50:00.002-08:002015-02-04T11:50:46.280-08:00Clerics denounce 'IS' militants after Jordanian pilot's death<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>A prominent Sunni Islam cleric has called for the execution of 'IS' militants who burned a Jordanian pilot to death. Other influential Imams called burning the pilot un-Islamic.</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.dw.de/clerics-denounce-is-militants-after-jordanian-pilots-death/a-18233767" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>, 4 Feb 2015<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xHCEmtIietk/VNJ28anu31I/AAAAAAABogY/V2_mEfM1khY/s1600/0%2C%2C16564246_303%2C00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xHCEmtIietk/VNJ28anu31I/AAAAAAABogY/V2_mEfM1khY/s1600/0%2C%2C16564246_303%2C00.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ahmed al-Tayeb, head of the 1,000-year-old Al-Azhar center for Sunni Islam in Egypt, called for the execution of "Islamic State" (IS) militants, one day after the <a href="http://www.dw.de/is-reportedly-releases-video-of-jordanian-hostage-burned-alive/a-18232611" target="_blank">jihadists publicized the video of a Jordanian pilot being burnedalive</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Egyptian cleric expressed "strong dismay at this cowardly act," and said the perpetrators should be punished through "killing, crucifixion or chopping of limbs." He termed the Islamic State a "satanic" organization that spread corruption on earth and waged war against God.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">IS had earlier posted a religious edict on Twitter saying Islam permitted burning an infidel to death, as a justification for burning Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh while he was still alive.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>'Only God tortures by fire'</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6piK2V8v5Xs/VNJ3jPAfE2I/AAAAAAABogg/wvd9jazc2dA/s1600/0%2C%2C18232605_404%2C00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6piK2V8v5Xs/VNJ3jPAfE2I/AAAAAAABogg/wvd9jazc2dA/s1600/0%2C%2C18232605_404%2C00.jpg" height="111" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh <br />was captured by the IS last year</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Al-Kaseasbeh's barbaric death apparently served to weaken IS' popularity, but it was not clear whether conservative clerics condemned the killing itself or the method used to end his life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Burning is an abominable crime rejected by Islamic law regardless of its causes," Saudi cleric Salman al-Odah wrote on his Twitter page, adding that "Only God tortures by fire."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Even if the Islamic State says Muath had bombed, and burned and killed us, and we punished him in the way he did to us, we say, okay but why film the video in this shocking way?" Abu Sayaf, a Jordanian Salafist cleric who spent ten years in Amman's prisons, told Reuters news agency.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Islamic State militants released a video on Tuesday, which purportedly showed the pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh being burned to death. <a href="http://www.dw.de/islamic-state-fighters-shoot-down-jet-capture-jordan-pilot-in-syria/a-18150713" target="_blank">The Jordanian national was captured by the jihadists last year in Syria</a> while flying on a US-led coalition mission against the IS.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amman had <a href="http://www.dw.de/jordan-ready-for-prisoner-swap-deal-with-islamic-state/a-18228743" target="_blank">attempted to exchange jihadi prisoner Sajida al-Rishawi</a> for al-Kaseasbeh, but those negotiations fell through after Jordanian officials said IS failed to prove he was still alive.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>mg/kms (dpa, AFP)</i></span><o:p></o:p><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Related Article:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://cempaka-africa.blogspot.nl/2015/02/jordan-executes-jihadists-after-is.html" target="_blank">Jordan executes jihadists after IS murder of pilot</a></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div></div>Cempakanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714217483042127098.post-35672355020559755382015-02-04T11:32:00.001-08:002015-02-04T11:34:01.708-08:00Jordan executes jihadists after IS murder of pilot<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/jordan-executes-two-jihadists-response-pilot-murder-034550126.html" target="_blank">Yahoo – AFP</a>, Kamal Taha and Mussa Hattar, 4 Feb 2015</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4EzhL8qWhGU/VNJwKzxzmbI/AAAAAAABofY/DwSaRVVLYGc/s1600/Part-REF-TS-Nic6413775-1-1-0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4EzhL8qWhGU/VNJwKzxzmbI/AAAAAAABofY/DwSaRVVLYGc/s1600/Part-REF-TS-Nic6413775-1-1-0.jpg" height="260" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Safi (centre), the father of Jordanian pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh, killed by Islamic</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;State group militants, is helped during a mourning ceremony at the headquarters</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;of the family's clan in the Jordanian city of Karak on February 4, 2015 (AFP Photo/</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Khalil Mazraawi)</span><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amman (AFP) - Jordan executed two death-row Iraqi jihadists, including a woman, on Wednesday after vowing to avenge the burning alive of one of its fighter pilots by the Islamic State group.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Would-be suicide bomber Sajida al-Rishawi and Al-Qaeda member Ziad al-Karboli were hanged before dawn at a prison south of the capital, the government said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XMI9wwnyNYE/VNJwbsV7gsI/AAAAAAABofg/uysotw9-zkg/s1600/Part-REF-REF31065-1-1-0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XMI9wwnyNYE/VNJwbsV7gsI/AAAAAAABofg/uysotw9-zkg/s1600/Part-REF-REF31065-1-1-0.jpg" height="200" width="138" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Maaz al-Kassasbeh, who was</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">captured&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">by Islamic State (IS)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">jihadist&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">group on December 24</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;in Syria and later burned alive</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(AFP Photo)</span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jordan had promised to begin executing Islamic extremists on death row in response to the murder of Maaz al-Kassasbeh, who was captured by IS when his plane went down in Syria in December.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jordan's King Abdullah II cut short a visit to Washington after a gruesome video of the airman's killing emerged, describing Kassasbeh as a hero and vowing to take the battle to IS.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Egypt-based Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's most prestigious seat of learning, called for the "killing, crucifixion or chopping of the limbs" of IS militants, expressing outrage over their "cowardly act".<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rishawi, 44, was sentenced to death for her participation in triple hotel bombings in Amman in 2005 that killed 60 people.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">IS had offered to spare Kassasbeh's life and free Japanese journalist Kenji Goto -- who was later beheaded -- if she were released.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jordan had on Tuesday vowed to avenge the killing of Kassasbeh, hours after the harrowing video emerged online purporting to show the caged 26-year-old F-16 fighter pilot engulfed in flames.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jbqe8qUymkU/VNJyoEUqBAI/AAAAAAABof4/qY5gwjNON5w/s1600/Part-NIC-Nic6413678-1-1-0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jbqe8qUymkU/VNJyoEUqBAI/AAAAAAABof4/qY5gwjNON5w/s1600/Part-NIC-Nic6413678-1-1-0.jpg" height="148" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Sajida al-Rishawi, a would-be Iraqi female</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;suicide bomber, standing in a cell at the</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">State&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Security court during her trial in</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;the Jordanian capital Amman, 2006</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(AFP Photo)</span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The video -- the most brutal yet in a series of recorded killings of hostages by IS -- prompted global revulsion and vows of unwavering international efforts to combat the Sunni Muslim extremist group.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The killing sparked outrage in Jordan and demonstrations in Amman and the city of Karak, the home of Kassasbeh's influential tribe.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The executions came just weeks after Jordan ended an eight-year moratorium on the death penalty, drawing criticism from human rights groups.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rishawi was closely linked to IS's predecessor organisation in Iraq and seen as an important symbol for the jihadists.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Karboli was sentenced to death in 2007 on terrorism charges, including the killing of a Jordanian in Iraq.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jordan, a crucial ally of Washington in the Middle East, is one of several Arab countries that have joined a US-led coalition carrying out air strikes against IS in Syria and Iraq.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The New York Times, quoting US officials, reported Wednesday that the United Arab Emirates had suspended its participation in December after Kassasbeh's capture due to fears for the safety of its pilots.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hVmz39XDy_U/VNJzKDI757I/AAAAAAABogA/XGLB-j_TVis/s1600/Part-REF-TS-Nic6413782-1-1-0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hVmz39XDy_U/VNJzKDI757I/AAAAAAABogA/XGLB-j_TVis/s1600/Part-REF-TS-Nic6413782-1-1-0.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Senior Jordanian army officers gather</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;during a mourning ceremony for pilot&nbsp;</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Maaz al-Kassasbeh in Karak on February</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">4,&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">2015 (AFP Photo/Khalil Mazraawi)</span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There was no official confirmation of the report.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>'Vile murder'</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jordan promised to avenge the pilot's murder, with government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani saying: "Jordan's response will be earth-shattering."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">US President Barack Obama, who hosted King Abdullah in a hastily organised Oval Office meeting, led international condemnation of the murder, decrying the "cowardice and depravity" of IS.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He said the brutal killing would only strengthen international resolve to defeat the extremists.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">British Prime Minister David Cameron, who has sent warplanes to join the US-led strikes against IS in Iraq, denounced "the sickening murder".<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"We will not stop until these evil extremists and their poisonous ideology are defeated," he added.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The opposition Syrian National Coalition offered condolences for the execution of the airman "whose blood mingled with the soil of our beloved Syria".</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pZHK8ahoG1M/VNJzjXMAt4I/AAAAAAABogM/tLNJYzTRAEw/s1600/aad0d6fc17bb05714cbbaa7adc8cd0563f49222e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pZHK8ahoG1M/VNJzjXMAt4I/AAAAAAABogM/tLNJYzTRAEw/s1600/aad0d6fc17bb05714cbbaa7adc8cd0563f49222e.jpg" height="129" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">US President Barack Obama meets with&nbsp;</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">King Abdullah II of Jordan in the Oval Office</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;of the White House in Washington, DC,&nbsp;</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">February 3, 2015 (AFP Photo/Saul Loeb)</span><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kassasbeh was captured in December when his jet crashed over northern Syria on a mission that was part of the coalition air campaign against the jihadists.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jordanian state television suggested he was killed on January 3, before IS offered to spare his life and free Goto in return for Rishawi's release.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The highly choreographed 22-minute video released Tuesday shows Kassasbeh at a table recounting coalition operations against IS, with flags from the various Western and Arab countries in the alliance projected in the background.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It then shows Kassasbeh dressed in an orange jumpsuit and surrounded by armed and masked IS fighters in camouflage.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It cuts to him standing inside a cage and apparently soaked in petrol before a masked jihadist lights a trail of flame that runs to the cage and burns him alive.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>'Misguided ideology'</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saudi Arabia, the spiritual home of Islam and another member of the coalition, condemned the "misguided ideology" behind Kassasbeh's killing and accused groups like IS of seeking "to distort the values of Islam".<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The UAE said the actions of IS "represent epidemics that must be eradicated by civilised societies without delay".<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Iran condemned the "inhuman and un-Islamic act".<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">IS had previously beheaded two US journalists, an American aid worker and two British aid workers in similar videos.</span></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YBjUbtcmtYs/VNJw4sFOwHI/AAAAAAABofo/r-T_B3l2kbc/s1600/Part-NIC-Nic6413585-1-1-0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YBjUbtcmtYs/VNJw4sFOwHI/AAAAAAABofo/r-T_B3l2kbc/s1600/Part-NIC-Nic6413585-1-1-0.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Anwar Tarawneh, the wife of Jordanian pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh, weeps during a</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;rally for her husband in the Jordanian capital Amman on February 3, 2015&nbsp;</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(AFP Photo/Khalil Mazraawi)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shiraz Maher, from the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King's College, London, described the latest footage as "simply the most horrific, disgusting thing I have seen from Islamic State in the last two years".<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">IS has seized swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq and last year declared a "caliphate" in areas under its control, imposing its brutal interpretation of Islam and committing widespread atrocities.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kassasbeh was the first serviceman from the coalition captured since it launched strikes against IS last year.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />The Jordan Times said in an editorial that the country would rally against the "ruthless" murder of the pilot "who is now the son of all Jordanians".</span></div>Cempakanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714217483042127098.post-57267799262742923482015-02-02T13:33:00.000-08:002015-02-02T13:34:13.397-08:00Pakistan prepares for Saudi royal to hunt 'protected' birds<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/pakistan-prepares-saudi-royal-hunt-protected-birds-134514092.html" target="_blank">Yahoo – AFP</a>, 2 Feb 2015</span><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rb1B6Hr4hvs/VM_lsizepKI/AAAAAAABoU8/X3NFCS_jgfI/s1600/2d8ec1ab584301b4fb5845cba3a4bb06b0c879eb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rb1B6Hr4hvs/VM_lsizepKI/AAAAAAABoU8/X3NFCS_jgfI/s1600/2d8ec1ab584301b4fb5845cba3a4bb06b0c879eb.jpg" height="267" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A falcon (R) tries to catch a Houbara bustard during a falconry competition,</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;part of the 2014 International Festival of Falconry, in Hameem, 150km west of</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;Abu Dhabi, on December 9, 2014 (AFP Photo/Karim Sahib)</span><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Quetta (Pakistan) (AFP) - Pakistani authorities are finalising arrangements for a Saudi prince to visit its southwestern desert region to hunt the Houbara bustard, a bird supposedly protected by law, officials said Monday.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An advance party has already been reached the Yak Much desert in the province of Baluchistan along with falcons which will be used to catch the bustard, officials said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saudi Prince Fahd bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz is expected to join the group in coming days. He led a hunting party to Baluchistan last year that officials said killed more than 2,000 bustards.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The birds are listed as "vulnerable" and declining in numbers by the International Union for Conservation of Nature's "Red List" of threatened species. Hunting them is banned in Pakistan.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But authorities issue special permits to wealthy visitors from Arab countries. Permit holders are in theory restricted to hunting a maximum of 100 of the protected birds over 10 days, but only in certain areas.</span></span><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KrXBmjL4k9U/VM_l9m_pyNI/AAAAAAABoVE/cIMyyG4GvBw/s1600/90f7c36f18b977d525197f345031bd9b733bf507.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KrXBmjL4k9U/VM_l9m_pyNI/AAAAAAABoVE/cIMyyG4GvBw/s1600/90f7c36f18b977d525197f345031bd9b733bf507.jpg" height="262" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A Houbara bustard flies during a falconry competition -- part of the 2014</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;International Festival of Falconry -- in Hameem, 150km west of Abu Dhabi,</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">on December 9, 2014 (AFP Photo/Karim Sahib)</span><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saifullah Zehri, district forest officer for wildlife in Chagai district of which Yak Much is a part, told AFP the advance party arrived on Sunday in a C-130 transport plane.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"They were fully equipped and had all the material which is required for bird hunting," Zehri said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Arab sheikhs are known as enthusiastic hunters, travelling to Pakistan each year to hunt the bird using the traditional Arabian method. They arrive by private jets from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.</span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to conservative estimates, between 500,000 and a million birds of all species migrate through Pakistan each year -- flying south from Siberia to pass the winter in Central and South Asia.</span></span><br /> <br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7G2-wuCwjnk/VM_ohfjyJZI/AAAAAAABoVU/G-49OfQ1TeQ/s1600/Fahd%2Bbin%2BSultan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7G2-wuCwjnk/VM_ohfjyJZI/AAAAAAABoVU/G-49OfQ1TeQ/s1600/Fahd%2Bbin%2BSultan.jpg" height="320" width="231" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Hunt: Fahd bin Sultan is said to have killed<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1,977 houbara bustards in just 21 days while<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">on holiday</span><o:p></o:p></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Related Articles:</b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://cempaka-africa.blogspot.nl/2014/04/bustard-act-saudi-prince-accused-of.html" target="_blank">Bustard act: Saudi prince accused of slaying 2,000 near-extinct birds while on safari in Pakistan</a>&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>(April 24, 2014)</i></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://cempaka-africa.blogspot.nl/2013/10/tanzania-ditches-plan-to-evict-masai.html" target="_blank">Tanzania ditches plan to evict Masai for Serengeti 'wildlife corridor'</a></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://cempaka-green.blogspot.nl/2012/11/botswana-to-ban-wildlife-hunting.html" target="_blank">Botswana to ban wildlife hunting</a></b></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; 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margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MUvw0VuGhww/VM-seyrZOaI/AAAAAAABoSY/74CS7Wln0M4/s1600/479ae6cc-522d-4cda-8ba5-0f03bdaf8e75-1020x612.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MUvw0VuGhww/VM-seyrZOaI/AAAAAAABoSY/74CS7Wln0M4/s1600/479ae6cc-522d-4cda-8ba5-0f03bdaf8e75-1020x612.jpeg" height="240" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A party political billboard along a Lagos highway. Nigeria’s crude oil exports are<br />&nbsp;often mispriced, according to a new report. Photograph: Pius Utomi Ekpei/<br />AFP/Getty Images</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Africa is losing more than $50bn (£33bn) every year in illicit financial outflows as governments and multinational companies engage in fraudulent schemes aimed at avoiding tax payments to some of the world’s poorest countries, impeding development projects and denying poor people access to crucial services.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Illegal transfers from African countries have tripled since 2001, when $20bn was siphoned off, according to <a href="http://www.uneca.org/publications/illicit-financial-flow" target="_blank">a report</a> released by the African Union’s (AU) high-level panel on illicit financial flows and the UN economic commission for Africa (Uneca).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The report was praised by civil society groups as the first African initiative to address illicit outflows from the continent.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In total, the continent lost about $850bn between 1970 and 2008, the report said. An estimated $217.7bn was illegally transferred out of Nigeria over that period, while Egypt lost $105.2bn and South Africa more than $81.8bn.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Trade mispricing, payments between parent companies and their subsidiaries, and profit-shifting mechanisms designed to hide revenues are all common practices by companies hoping to maximise profits, the study said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nigeria’s crude oil exports, mineral production in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Africa, and timber sales from Liberia and Mozambique are all sectors where trade mispricing occurs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Former South African president Thabo Mbeki, who chairs the panel, said: “The information available to us has convinced our panel that large commercial corporations are by far the biggest culprits of illicit outflows, followed by organised crime. We are also convinced that corrupt practices in Africa are facilitating these outflows, apart from and in addition to the related problem of weak governance capacity.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Criminal networks engaged in drugs and human trafficking, animal poaching, and theft of oil and minerals also contributed to money leaving the continent.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reducing these losses requires urgent and coordinated action, the report said, calling for renewed political interest in fighting corruption, increased transparency in extractive sector transactions and a crackdown on banks that aid fraudulent transfers.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">African and non-African governments and the private sector – including oil, mining, banking, legal and accountancy firms – were all involved in schemes designed to launder money and avoid paying corporate tax, according to the study.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">More than $1tn was siphoned off globally through illegal schemes between 2007 and 2009, the report said, noting that lost African revenues comprised 6% of that total. But the authors cautioned that poor data and complicated laundering networks could make the amount much higher.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Illicit financial flows from Africa range from at least $30bn to $60bn a year,” the report said. “These lower-end figures indicated to us that in reality Africa is a net creditor to the world rather than a net debtor, as is often assumed.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But efforts to stop funds reaching terrorist groups, such as Nigeria’s Boko Haram and Somalia’s al-Shabaab, have led to improved anti-money laundering institutions in many African countries, the report said. This includes passing legislation designed to stop illicit flows, creating financial intelligence units and monitoring banking activities.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The report called for the UN to crack down on European and US firms that engage in tax avoidance and money laundering.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Joseph Stead, senior economic justice adviser at Christian Aid, said: “This is the first time that African countries have spoken out so strongly and in unison about how these financial crimes are hurting their people. That is a big deal.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“From now on, it will be much harder for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and other rich country groupings to argue that tax dodging, corruption, money laundering and so on are not a top priority for African governments.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Governments that “turn a blind eye” to illicit outflows are forcing their poorest citizens to forgo hospitals, schools and environmental protection, said Sipho Mthathi, Oxfam’s executive director for South Africa.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Oxfam estimates that Africa alone is losing almost half of the global $100bn of annual illicit financial flows,” she said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The bulk of Africa’s illicit transfers originated from west Africa, where 38% of all funds leaving the continent were generated. Profit-making activities in north Africa accounted for 28% of the flows, while southern Africa, central Africa and eastern Africa each made up about 10%, the report showed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.gfintegrity.org/" target="_blank">Global Financial Integrity</a> president Raymond Baker said the report represented a historic moment in the effort to fight Africa’s “most pernicious economic problem”. “This is a turning point in the movement to curtail illicit financial flows and promote financial transparency, both within Africa and globally,” he said.</span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The high level panel was founded by the AU and Uneca in 2012.</span><o:p></o:p></span><br /><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Related Articles:</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://cempaka-health.blogspot.nl/2015/01/african-union-vows-ebola-fund-as-oxfam.html" target="_blank">African Union vows Ebola fund as Oxfam calls for 'Marshall Plan'</a></b><br /><br /><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://cempaka-africa.blogspot.nl/2013/08/dutch-polish-tax-image-to-update.html" target="_blank">Dutch polish tax image, to 'update' treaties with 23 poor countries</a></b></div><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>Cempakanoreply@blogger.com0